Why Brooks Koepka-Patrick Cantlay Open grouping has tongues wagging

Brooks Koepka’s hatred for slow play can be on full show in the course of the first two rounds of the Open.

After ending runner-up on the Masters, Koepka took the bizarre step of calling out the tempo of Sunday’s ultimate spherical throughout his press convention.

“Yeah, the group in entrance of us was brutally sluggish,” Koepka mentioned. “Jon [Rahm] went to the toilet like seven instances in the course of the spherical, and we had been nonetheless ready.”

This week, he’s paired with one member of that penultimate grouping, and certain offender for the tempo, Patrick Cantlay.

Koepka, who gained the PGA Championship a month later, is named one of many sooner gamers in skilled golf, whereas Cantlay is… uh, nicely not. Nonetheless, the week following the Masters, Cantlay shot back at Koepka and different critics, saying the tempo was “sluggish for everyone” and inserting blame on the golf course.

“We completed the first gap, and the group in entrance of us was on the 2nd tee after we walked as much as the 2nd tee, and we waited all day on just about each shot,” Cantlay mentioned earlier than the RBC Heritage. “We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I think about it was sluggish for everybody.

“Yeah, one factor that’s attention-grabbing sitting on the PAC [Player Advisory Council] is you get all of the numbers and the information. And rounds have taken about the identical size of time for the final 10 or 20 years that they at present take. Whenever you play a golf course like Augusta Nationwide the place all the outlet places are on a number of slope and the greens are actually quick, it’s simply going to take longer and longer to gap out.

“I feel that will have been what attributed to a few of the sluggish play on Sunday, after which additionally when the wind is gusting and the wind is blowing possibly inconsistently, that’s when guys will take a very long time, too. I feel that’s simply the character of taking part in skilled golf, the place each shot issues a lot.”

Winds are forecasted to gust upward of 20 mph within the afternoon of spherical 1 and all day throughout spherical 2 at Royal Liverpool, which may result in a whole lot of Koepka’s infamous eye rolls all through the opening rounds.

Social media took discover when the pairings had been launched.

🚨🐢🐇 JUST IN: Brooks Koepka has been paired with Patrick Cantlay & Hideki Matsuyama for rounds 1 & 2 at #TheOpen. Brooks known as Cantlay’s group “brutally sluggish” at The Masters & has since mentioned they need to ‘begin stroking guys’ in the event that they take to lengthy to hit a shot. @TrackingCantlay… pic.twitter.com/fnDEs6GCFa

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) July 18, 2023

To not point out, the ultimate participant within the threesome, 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama, is also called one of the more deliberate players on Tour. Albeit, maybe not in the identical breath as Cantlay.

The trio begins their opening round at 4:36 a.m. ET (9:36 a.m. BST), they usually begin their second rounds at 9:37 a.m. ET (2:37 p.m. BST) on Friday.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State College, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf staff and nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Earlier than becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but in addition producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He may be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.