Patrick Cantlay Addresses Brooks Koepka’s Slow Play Comments

Slow play has always been a hot topic on the PGA Tour, but it was particularly relevant at the 2023 Masters, where the final round moved at a sluggish pace. Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka—Sunday’s final pairing—were shown waiting on numerous tee boxes as the round unfolded. 

The group up ahead of the eventual Masters champion and the LIV golfer included Viktor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay, and many fans pointed to Cantlay as the slow-play culprit. Cantlay, a rather deliberate player, particularly around the greens, was even spotted walking up the 13th fairway while Hovland was already hitting his greenside chip. 

After Rahm clinched his first Masters victory, Koepka was asked about the pace of play on Sunday afternoon and he did not hold back in pointing out the grueling wait times. In fact, Koepka said the group’s pauses between shots were so long that Rahm had time to use the restroom “like seven times” throughout the round. 

“The group in front of us was brutally slow,” Koepka said. 

Koepka’s pointed comments were brought up to Cantlay himself on Tuesday at his RBC Heritage press conference, and the eight-time PGA Tour winner was rather diplomatic in his response. 

“Yeah, I mean, we finished the first hole, and the group in front of us was on the second tee when we walked up to the second tee, and we waited all day on pretty much every shot. We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone,” Cantlay said. 

Later in the press conference, the pace of play was raised once again—this time, as a broader issue plaguing the PGA Tour. 

“Do you see [slow play] as a problem, and if so, what’s the solution?” Sports Illustrated’s Alex Miceli asked.  

Cantlay, a member of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council (PAC), again added some context to the topic, citing the particularly high stakes at Augusta National and the trickier-than-average greens. 

“Yeah, one thing that's interesting sitting on the PAC is you get all the numbers and the data, and rounds have taken about the same length of time for the last 10 or 20 years that they currently take. When you play a golf course like Augusta National where all the hole locations are on lots of slope and the greens are really fast, it's just going to take longer and longer to hole out.”

“I think that may have been what attributed to some of the slow play on Sunday, and then also when the wind is gusting and the wind is blowing maybe inconsistently, that's when guys will take a long time, too. I think that's just the nature of playing professional golf, where every shot matters so much,” Cantlay said. 

Unfortunately for Cantlay, the explanation did not stop fans from bombarding his social media comment section with relentless criticism.