VIDEO: Brooks Koepka visibly upset about J.B. Holmes "pace-of-play" being too slow during The Open Championship... does slow golf matter to YOU? Should it matter to him?
VIA Deadspin: As the top golfer in the world, Brooks Koepka has shown that he has no problem confronting, or at least calling out, his fellow competitors when he takes issue with something they’ve done. It’s the kind of personality that led him to calling Sergio Garcia a whiny baby, and getting into a physical altercation with Dustin Johnson. Most notably, it’s led him to be quitevocal about his disdain for slow play. So when Koepka was drawn to play with J.B. Holmes, a golfer well known for playing at a snail’s pace, the emergence of some sort of mid-tournament beef seemed inevitable.
The first true sign of the two contrasting personalities came at the end of the 6th hole. After finally getting into a rhythm—Koepka started his day off with four straight bogeys before sinking an eagle on the 5th—the world No. 1 had to wait as Holmes took a, uhh, patient approach to preparing for his double-bogey putt that he’d eventually miss. The brief shot of the body language on Koepka (yellow sweater) kind of tells the whole story.
Per Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio:
“J.B. had a rough day. J.B. is a slow player. I know it’s difficult with the wind, but I didn’t think he was that bad today,” Koepka said. “I thought he was all right. There were times where I thought it was slow. There’s a lot of slow guys out here.
“What I don’t understand is when it’s your turn to hit, your glove is not on, then you start thinking about it, that’s where the problem lies. It’s not that he takes that long. He doesn’t do anything until his turn. That’s the frustrating part. But he’s not the only one that does it out here.
“But like I said, it wasn’t that bad today, it really wasn’t. It was slow, but it wasn’t that bad for his usual pace. It was relatively quick for what he usually does.”
“If you don’t play good you’re not going to win,” the world No. 1 said. “So, it’s very simple. It’s disappointing, yes. I didn’t play the way I wanted to.
“And I’ve got to live with that.”