The 2021 FedEx Cup was won by American professional golfer Patrick Cantlay, who also claimed eight PGA Tour victories. He has enjoyed a fruitful amateur career and held the top spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 55 weeks.
At the 2012 Travelers Championship, where he made his professional debut, he failed to make the cut. Prior to the Travelers event, Cantlay made the announcement that he would join Tiger Woods' management team, Mark Steinberg and Excel Sports Management Group.
At the 2013 Colombia Championship, a Web.com Tour event, Cantlay achieved his first professional victory. In order to qualify for the 2014 PGA Tour, he participated in the Web.com Tour Finals and placed 11th. He only competed in five events in the 2013–14 season due to a back injury, but he was given an 11-event medical extension.
Cantlay participated in the Masters Tournament and the RBC Heritage at the beginning of 2023, placing T14 and third, respectively. Despite his impressive performances, his slow approach to the tournament received a lot of media attention.
How did Patrick Cantlay respond to hostility toward his pace?
Cantlay refuted this and appeared unconcerned about resentment towards him for his slow pace. He implied that factors such as difficult hole locations and fast greens contributed to the slow pace of play in the tournament.
The media paid a lot of attention to Cantlay's performance or his deliberate pace. On the 13th hole, Hovland even hit a chip shot before Cantlay even got to the putting surface, which seemed to aggravate him.
When asked about the Master's slow play, Cantlay responded, "(When) we finished the first hole, 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 the 15th fairway; we waited in the 18th fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone.”
There were a few more inquiries after that, and one of them concerned whether or not Cantlay believed that the PGA Tour's pace of play was a problem and how it might be fixed.
“One thing that’s interesting sitting on the PAC (Player Advisory Council) 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,” Cantlay stated. “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.”
FAQs on Patrick Cantlay's take about his slow play
A. Cantlay mentioned that factors like difficult hole locations and fast greens contribute to the slow pace of play.
A. Cantlay explained that challenging course conditions and inconsistent wind can lead to slower play in professional golf.
A. Cantlay appeared unconcerned about the hostility and media attention directed at his deliberate pace during the tournament.
