Why Patrick Cantlay’s slow play on the PGA Tour is indicative of a larger problem

Patrick Cantlay’s putter could as well be a swinging pendulum inside a grandfather’s clock, measuring the time he takes to hit the ball.

It is frustrating to watch his wiggling and wagging when standing over a putting before pulling the blade into pinball launcher position. Cantlay took consistently longer to settle over the ball than his playing partners during the Memorial Tournament’s first two rounds.

Even if it sometimes feels like one, the Memorial two-time winner isn’t a calendar that counts time in days, months and weeks.

Slow play has become a major issue on the PGA Tour. Cantlay, the poster snail of the tour, is a prime example. His sluggish play around the green was a big problem during the Masters when Brooks Koepka, who played in the group directly behind him, and millions of television viewers wanted to scream “Hurry Up, Already!”

Cantlay may be at the forefront of the slow-play discussion, but my views on the matter go against those who are wringing hands because they fear that he and his slowpoke buddies create a negative impression that harms fan interest and threatens the health and longevity of the tour.

Slow play is not a major issue on the Tour but rather a personal frustration of fans.

More: Jack Nicklaus nail it; slow play on the PGA Tour is a bad form of selfishness

Let me explain. On TV, where most golf fans watch tournaments, pace of play is not important. Sam Bennett, an amateur golfer who regripped his club five or six times before starting his backswing at Muirfield Village Golf Club and took a long time to hit his approach shot, was not included in the broadcast. Does slow play exist if you can’t see it? Plus, TV reduces the visual effect of slow play, by switching from player to player.

Who cares if slow play turns a 4 1/2 hour round into a five-hour one, unless it’s the TV crew trying desperately to get their dinner reservations? When I watch golf, I rarely think ‘This is too slow.’ Time to mow. I only leave the broadcast early when the leaderboard looks more like a Who’s Who than a Who?

Tour pros remind us that we are the ones who have to wait on every shot. We blame them for making our coulda been-a-82 score into a 95.

Cantlay’s high handicap version at the muni or club is so frustrating that we can’t watch him take so long to putt.

Of course, many of us are the slow player we despise, but in our lack of self-awareness we justify our slog pace as inevitable, blaming it on failing to find our ball in the too-thick rough or after searching those inconveniently-placed woods (beware the poison ivy, people).

There are times that we can play a game at a reasonable pace, only to be slowed down by saunterers and riding carts 200 yards away.

This scar tissue is a result of our impatience. We go crazy when we see Cantlay shifting his weight five times on the green or Keegan Brad advancing and retreating in the fairway, like a shy boy in middle school practicing to ask a woman out. Or, we roll our eyes at Viktor Hovland, and others, who test the slope of a green by straddling the line and rocking from side to side, as if they were trying to balance a boat

What does that mean? That it’s perfectly okay for players to take as much time as they want? No. Consideration of others should be a part of a slow players’ thinking, regardless if they are in contention for Sunday or battling to make it.

What player would want to hear rude comments about their sluggish play? Cantlay doesn’t like hearing that the name of his sponsor on his bag should be changed to DeWait from DeWalt. He can silence his critics with one simple – and faster – step. Step up your pace.

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@rollerCD