There was a time midway through the final round at Innisbrook Resort when Fitzpatrick felt he was getting out of his rhythm because of the slow pace of play from his playing partner, Adrien Dumont de Chassart.
If Fleetwood – one of the pro golf’s few true ‘good guys’ – being accused of dabbling in the dark arts struck you as odd, you weren’t alone. In fact, Fleetwood himself was surprised by the interpretation of events on Sunday, offering a very simple explanation for the delay.
On Thursday, in the opening round, McIlroy got a sour taste in his mouth when his group – along with Thriston Lawrence and Kristoffer Reitan – was put on the clock for slow play twice, once early and again late.
Everyone noticed Cantlay taking a long time over the ball, including the many, many times he shuffled his feet before pulling the trigger. Phil Mickelson took notice as well.
You’ll have to forgive Marc Leishman, who has played in just one major championship since the end of 2022. During that three-year span, he clearly forgot that they can be absolute slogs when it comes to pace of play.
Many speculated that Tosti was passively aggressively protesting Min Woo Lee’s slow play by marching to the beat of his own drum, a theory that the Argentinian shot down with a bazooka in tirade on X. Tosti deleted his reply about an hour later, but screenshots live forever.
Alejandro Tosti staged a conspicuous protest against playing partner Min Woo Lee’s pace during the final round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open, deliberately slow-playing Lee at Memorial Park’s 12th hole.
Seven key changes are coming – some imminent, some potential and others, for now, mostly theoretical – that senior PGA Tour staff believe will usher in a new and permanent era of faster play on the circuit.
Australian Golf Digest
