Brooks Koepka Got Paired With Patrick Cantlay at British Open, and Everyone Had Slow Play Jokes

The pairings for the first two rounds of this year’s British Open, which starts Thursday morning at Royal Liverpool, came out Tuesday morning and there was one juicy group that had golf fans making lots of jokes.
Reigning PGA champion Brooks Koepka will be playing alongside Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama on Thursday and Friday. What makes this such an interesting group, of course, is how Koepka ripped Cantlay after the Masters in April for his extremely slow play in the final round at Augusta National.
Koepka loves to play fast. Cantlay and Matsuyama, meanwhile, are known for playing at a ridiculously slow pace of play.
This could become a long few days for Koepka.
Golf fans had lots of jokes after the pairing was announced:
I feel for Brooksie. Ugh. Glacier movements and sloths on Ambien are faster than those players. https://t.co/qkRP029qPB
— Eric Tauriainen (@ejtauri) July 18, 2023
Prayers up for Brooksy https://t.co/cPiOxLZP3R
— 🦁 Lions Beastro 🦁 (@ArchibaldBarnh2) July 18, 2023
Actually brutal… #TheOpen https://t.co/LSX668KKmR pic.twitter.com/92LxX370KT
— Mitch (@_Pantzke) July 18, 2023
Brooks may kill Cantlay by the time the weekend rolls around https://t.co/xOVhyfz0FW
— Matt Miller (@MattyMillz85) July 18, 2023
With some time to mentally prepare for playing with 2 tortoises, I expect Brooks can find some ways to manage - maybe he can bring some exercise bands or pack a yoga mat and just get some work in while he waits. https://t.co/ZX3iXGgU7W
— Living It Up golf podcast (@LivingItUpPod) July 18, 2023
The amount of Brooks eye rolls/deep sighs this week will be at an all time high. 🍿 https://t.co/pRgAMS3Jp1
— Curry (@Curry_Franklin1) July 18, 2023
The Open chose violence 🤣 https://t.co/4G2fiH5lW8
— Elliot Mee (@mr_shmee91) July 18, 2023
Absolute troll job https://t.co/9fvGdweTXT
— Danny Greive (@DannyGreive) July 18, 2023

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.
Follow anezbitt