This year’s U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick finished his opening-round Thursday at St. Andrews with an even-par 72.
While the 27-year-old Englishman is still within striking distance, he wasn’t too pleased with today’s round — especially when it came to the pace of play.
Fitzpatrick’s threesome including Tiger Woods and Max Homa finished its round in a whopping 6 hours and 9 minutes.
The PGA Tour average for a threesome round is 4 hours and 40 minutes.
“It’s sad, really. Should never happen in golf,” Fitzpatrick said after the round.
The snail-like pace at the Old Course is caused by several factors. With the current course conditions, several par-4 holes are drivable and par-5 holes reachable in two — meaning the next group has to wait on the tee box until the group ahead finishes out their putts. The links-style setup with parallel running holes also results in interference from other groups on wayward shots.
Fitzpatrick isn’t the only player to callout today’s slow play.
“I figured it would be slow, but I didn’t know it would be this slow,” reigning champion Collin Morikawa said after the round, per Golf Digest. “We were waiting on groups at tees, waiting on fairways. Xander and I talked about it, we’re watching more golf than we ever have. You stay in the fairway, and you’re watching two other groups play golf.”
Until the field is thinned down with cuts on Saturday, expect the pace of play to remain sluggish.