Patrick Cantlay Responds To Brooks Koepka Calling Him Out For Slow Play At The Masters

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The pace of play during the final round of the Masters was painfully slow and many, including Brooks Koepka, pointed the finger at Patrick Cantlay. The American, who finished in a tie for 14th, has since responded to the critics calling him out for his slow play on Sunday.

Koepka, who was paired with eventual Masters champ Jon Rahm, did not hold back with his comments after the final round.

"The group in front of us was brutally slow. Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting," Koepka told the media.

The group in front of Koepka and Rahm was Viktor Hovland and Cantlay.

A specific clip of Cantlay taking his sweet time on the Par 5 13th, with Hovland already hitting his shot from behind the green, went viral on Sunday.

While Koepka blamed the pace of play on the Cantlay group in front of him, Cantlay used the same excuse as to why it was so slow at Augusta National on Sunday afternoon.

Patrick Cantlay Tries To Explain His Slow Play

"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," Cantlay said. "We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone.”

Waiting on No. 2 tee is incredibly common during the final round at the Masters as the pin placement allows most players in the field to go for the green in two. Cantlay's comment about waiting on the tee on the Par 5 doesn't carry much weight.

Cantlay also explained that the pace of play always tends to be slow at Augusta.

“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," Cantlay explained ahead of this week's RBC Heritage.

“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."

Plenty of eyes will be on Cantlay's pace of play this week at the RBC Heritage, that's for sure.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.