Sunday 11 August 2019 16:35, UK
Bryson DeChambeau has defended himself against accusations of slow play at the Northern Trust and has described the allegations as unfair.
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The defending champion came under scrutiny after a video emerged of him taking more than two minutes to get ready to hit an eight-foot putt during his second round.
DeChambeau received strong criticism from both players and spectators for the incident, which wasn't penalised by officials, with the American disappointed by the social media backlash.
Speaking after a third-round 71 at Liberty National, DeChambeau told reporters: "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.
"This is a conversation about playing golf in a certain time. If we really want to do something about this, let's look at the other people that are associated to it. It's the total time it takes to play the hole, it's not just about the time it takes to hit a shot.
"There are certain instances where 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. That's not fair when people are putting me in a bad light."
DeChambeau's scientific approach to the sport sees him contemplate air density, wind direction and other factors before playing a shot, with the world No 8 questioning whether he has been singled out because of his unique style.
"I play a different way out there," DeChambeau added. "I take my 40 seconds that's allotted, sometimes over. Absolutely, totally agree, it's maybe 5 per cent 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. They don't talk about this matter and for me personally, it is an attack and it is something that is not me whatsoever.
"The way the PGA Tour policy is now for pace of play is not good the way they define it. They define it as the amount of time it takes to hit a shot. The problem with that is that there's people walking and other people in the group that are walking to the next shot and there's other people that are getting numbers.
"It takes them time to do stuff and so when you look at the whole situation, and you look at the time it takes for me to get from one shot to the next shot and you add up those times for me to play the hole, I'm right on par."
