DeChambeau firing back about his slow play:
https://www.cbssports.com/golf/news/2019-northern-trust-bryson-dechambeau-swings-misses-in-firing-back-at-slow-play-critics/
From the article:
"This is a conversation about playing golf in a certain time," said DeChambeau. "If we really want to talk about this, if we really want to do something about this, let's look at the other people that are associated to it. It's the total time it takes to play the hole. It's not just about the time it takes to hit a shot.
"Take the total amount of time to play a hole and see how long it takes for players to walk between their shots. Now guys will say we don't like that because we have our certain rhythm that they have to go the full distance. That's where the problem comes about.
"So which way are you going fix it? Are you going to fix it by timing players as well for how long it takes to get from one shot to the next? Or just over the shot in general? You know, there's a lot of stuff you have to factor in. Today there was a lot of weird things happening."
In the end, I heard a lot of excuses from DeChambeau and not much ownership for a ridiculous display on Friday at Liberty National Golf Club. A little humility here would likely go a long way for DeChambeau, but he seems content to try and explain why, despite evidence to the contrary, he doesn't play as slow as you think.
- - - - -
That last paragraph is the writer's editorial commentary, not mine. Here's mine: DeChambeau does tend to take a long time over the ball, and I don't know how quickly he walks to them. But he's right about speed of play *in general*. When I was learning how to play as a kid, my father said, "It's ok to take a little time over the ball, but you absolutely have to walk quickly TO the ball. You can't mosey over to the ball and *then* take your time over it. Get where you need to go." Of course, maybe one reason I golf in the 80s instead of the 70s is because I walk quickly to the ball and then don't take any time over it either!
But in principle, it's not about waiting for each shot to be made...it's the speed of a round being played. Now maybe on the PGA tour they just look at it differently. Maybe it's more accepted to walk more slowly and then take less time over the ball. I don't know. I just know that there are two ways to look at it.
But man, watching him take *forever* looking at some of these shots is just...painful. Part of why it's painful as a fan is because we don't watch them walk to the next shot. The camera just shows them AT the next shot, and so it feels like it's torture. But when the rest of the PGA tour is criticizing him for slow play, I suppose there must be SOME fire where there's that much smoke.