Bryson DeChambeau lashes out at slow play critics

Bryson DeChambeau has hit back at his critics, saying he has been “attacked” over his slow play.

Not for the first time, DeChambeau, 25, has been heavily criticised on social media for his pace during this week’s Northern Trust at Liberty National.

Two incidents in the second round have come in for particular scrutiny, with some of the American’s fellow pros weighing in to criticise him.

England’s Eddie Pepperell even went so far as to label him a “single-minded twit” for taking over two minutes to hit a putt.

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Approaching the 18th green during the third round of the tournament – the first of the FedEx Cup Playoffs – DeChambeau confronted a fan who heckled him over his slow reputation and, after signing his card, he continued on the offensive.

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“A lot of it’s the caddies, a lot of it’s the other players,” he said. “They don’t care about walking fast. I play a different way out there.

“I take my 40 seconds that’s allotted. Sometimes over. Absolutely. Totally agree. It’s maybe 5% of the time. But I’ll tell you that it’s really kind of unfortunate the way it’s perceived because there’s a lot of other guys that take a lot of time.

“For me, personally, it’s an attack and it is something that is not me whatsoever. People don’t realise the harm that they are doing to the individuals.

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“And look, this is about playing golf, right? I’m trying to enjoy my time out there and play golf in the best way possible and I’m sprinting between every single shot because sometimes playing partners and caddies don’t walk at the necessary speed that they need to. This is a four-person job when we’re talking about this.”

He continued: “When you catch me out at my normal golf course, I’ll be playing in two-and-a-half hours. I hate playing golf. I absolutely hate it. I love competition. It’s the most fun thing in the world for me but when people start talking to me about slow play and how I’m killing the game, I’m doing this and that to the game, that is complete and utter you-know-what. That’s not fair.

“There are certain instances where it’s very – we have a very difficult shot, and it’s not easy, so yeah, I’m going to take a little bit longer, because that’s my job. I’m supposed to provide entertainment for you guys so you guys can have a good time watching it and I’m trying to do my absolute best out there every single time. 

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“It’s not fair when people are putting me in a bad light. I’m trying to do my absolute best. I’m trying to provide entertainment and I hope that people can realise that it takes more than just me playing a shot in 30 seconds or 40 seconds for us to call it slow play.”

DeChambeau said that he was “okay” with people accusing him of slow play on social media but said it was “not fair” of his fellow pro Eddie Pepperell to call him out in the way he did. 

“I would love to speak to him personally and talk about it,” he added.

“It is what it is. We are all trying to do our best to play well and make our livelihoods and win tournaments. But when you start personally attacking people on Twitter, it’s like, come on, dude. Let’s have some more balls to come up and speak to me to my face about that.”