Slow player hailed by NBC radio, Fitzpatrick: ‘Very frustrating’

Matthew Fitzpatrick has never been a fan of slow play — or the way the PGA Tour has handled the problem.

So it was fitting that his latest tour win came with an added hurdle: The speed of his playing partner.

“That was really frustrating. It was slow today. I felt like there were a lot of starts,” Fitzpatrick said after his win at the Valspar Championship.

He chose his words carefully and did not call out his teammate Adrien Dumont de Chassart by name, but his words echoed the sentiments he shared throughout his years on the Tour. It’s a tricky argument to grapple with — people who play for a living will always take the time they feel they need, while stroke penalties can feel difficult to dish out — Fitzpatrick has been calling the cops on the story, using phrases like “truly scary,” “disgraceful,” “tragic” and more.

Three years ago, following a big win at Harbor Town, Fitzpatrick was the focus of an interview with Sky Sports. But he also admitted that he was taking a vain stand.

“However, the problem is that this discussion has been going on for years and years and years, and no one has done anything,” he said at the time. “So I feel like it’s probably a waste of time to talk about it all the time. I have my opinions — maybe strong opinions, but the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, nobody’s going to do anything about it.”

Back on Sunday then. While Fitzpatrick’s day was smooth — he shot a three-under 68 en route to his first PGA Tour victory in nearly three years — Dumont de Chassart’s was less so. The 26-year-old Belgian’s opening shot went out of bounds on the triple-bogey 8 and he made the second 8 on the par-5 11th; his tenure with the latter took so long that Fitzpatrick, who had been playing off and on in an effort to keep his team going, took the unusual step of asking the official for help.

NBC reporter John Wood said Fitzpatrick was “disturbed” by Chassart’s pace, which he described as “ice, being kind.”

Law enforcement officer Orlando Pope confirmed on radio that Fitzpatrick had spoken with the officer and that the visit had begun to illegally time him; that eventually led to a formal warning.

“Yeah, you know, you’re not ready,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to his playing partner, if not by name. He was drawing the difference between making high scores – which happens and can slow down play – and playing low while doing so.

“If you’re not ready to play golf, it’s disappointing after a while, especially if you’re playing well or in competition or whatever, it throws you out of your rhythm, because you hit, you go for it, you think about it, you hit again, you go.

“That particular hole, that’s where you’re right next to where you can get a little quirky with different shots and stuff, so you have to be on it,” Fitzpatrick continued. “It definitely took me out of the rhythm I felt for the next two, three holes. I was chasing my tail, because I’m trying to speed up and trying to keep it or get back to the spot, and at the same time obviously you’re trying to win a golf tournament.”

Fitzpatrick eventually won that golf tournament.

Chassart dropped to T26 after a 74. However, he avoided any penalty for slow play and improved from No. 97 to 91 in the season-long FedEx Cup standings.

It has been nearly nine years since the last time the Tour handed out a stroke penalty. The Tour announced several potential changes at the start of last season. It’s safe to say that Fitzpatrick thinks those remain a work in progress.

But given the chance, we doubt he’ll change anything with Sunday’s victory lap.

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