The outrage over pace of play on the PGA Tour has hit an all-time high this season, and the latest incident comes to us thanks to a couple of videos of Bryson DeChambeau during the second round on Friday at The Northern Trust.
DeChambeau started his second round on the back nine, and on the par-4 16th hole, The Northern Trust defending champion drew some attention on Twitter when a video showed him pacing off a 70-yard shot. Despite the broadcast saying it’s “a pretty straightforward shot” it still took the five-time PGA Tour winner more than three minutes to execute.
That shot was only the beginning.
On the eighth hole, DeChambeau had an eight foot putt for birdie. After 90 seconds of checking his yardage book and reading the putt, DeChambeau then called his caddie over to take a look at the putt. While examining the putt – that he went on to miss – the broadcaster joked about how he would love to see DeChambeau play nine holes with his friends with some beers to see how he would do “without all the analytical stuff” that goes into his pre-shot routine.
It took 2:20 for DeChambeau to putt, which caught the attention of a handful of professionals. Paul Lawrie, winner of the 1999 Open Championship, tweeted: “Can’t believe there are people who defend this guys pace of play and how many examples will it take for him to get penalty shots !! Total joke and feel sorry for his playing partners.”
Rich Beem, a three-time winner on Tour and the 2002 PGA Champion, had a bit more to say.
Even his fellow players on Tour chimed in, with Luke Donald noting that despite the elongated time DeChambeau still misread the putt by two cups. Eddie Pepperell had the harshest criticism, calling DeChambeau an “unaffected single minded twit.”
