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Brooks Koepka’s dislike of slow play will be on full display during the first two rounds of The Open.
After his second-place finish at the Masters, Kupka took the unusual step of announcing the pace of the final round on Sunday during his press conference.
“Yeah, the group ahead of us was very slow,” Kupka said. John [Rahm] We went to the bathroom seven times during the tour, and we’re still waiting.”
This week, he’s been paired with one member of that penultimate group, and likely the pace-setter, Patrick Cantlay.
Koepka, who won the PGA Championship a month later, is known as one of the fastest players in professional golf, while Cantlay is… uh, well no. However, in the week after the Masters, Cantlay hit back at Koepka and other pundits, saying the pace was “slow for everyone” and blaming the golf course.
“We finished on the first hole, and the group ahead of us was second when we walked to the second tee, and we waited almost all day on every putt,” Cantlay said to the RBC Heritage team. “We waited on lane 15, we waited on lane 18. I imagine it was slow for everyone.
“Yeah, one interesting thing is sitting in the PAC [Player Advisory Council] Do you get all the numbers and data. Tours have taken about the same length of time over the past 10 or 20 years as they do now. When you play a golf course like Augusta National where all the hole sites are on a lot of slope and the greens are really fast, it takes longer and longer to get rid of it.
“I think that might have been attributed to some slow play on Sunday, and then also when it’s windy and the wind blows inconsistently, then the guys will take a long time too. I think that’s the nature of professional golf, where every shot counts.”
Winds are expected to reach 20mph on the afternoon of Round 1 and throughout the day during Round 2 at Royal Liverpool, which could result in plenty of Koepka’s infamous eye-banging throughout the opening rounds.
Social media took notice when the pairing was launched.
Not to mention that the final player in the trio, 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, is also known as one of the more deliberate players on tour. Although, perhaps not in the same breath as Cantlay.
The trio kicks off their opening tour at 4:36 AM ET (9:36 AM GMT), and kick off their second tour at 9:37 AM ET (2:37 PM GMT) on Friday.