Can Patrick Cantlay sink a 4ft putt faster than Black Caviar can race 1000m?

Is the world’s fastest racehorse quicker than one of the world’s slowest golfers?

Patrick Cantlay has copped a lot of criticism for his pace of play over the past few weeks. Already known as one of the slowest golfers on the PGA Tour, Cantlay’s slowed to a crawl during the third and final rounds of The Masters playing in front of the final group, Brooks Koepka called the round “brutally slow”.

Some golf pundits suggested Viktor Hovland’s performance, one of the quicker players on tour, was unfairly disrupted as his playing partner on Sunday at Augusta.

And while he is by no means the only slow golfer on tour, it is easy to imagine a very slow round playing in the final groups on the last day of a major and Cantlay did defend himself when asked.

“Yeah, I mean, we finished the first hole, and the group in front of us was on the second tee when we walked up to the second tee, and we waited all day on pretty much every shot,” he said. “We waited in 15 fairway, we waited in 18 fairway. I imagine it was slow for everyone.”

The flak continued after Cantlay was once again in contention to win at last week’s RBC Heritage. Playing with the swift pair of Jordan Spieth and Matt Fitzpatrick, the contrast in the pace of play was stark.

Speaking to SkySports this week, eventual winner Matt Fitzpatrick didn’t specifically refer to Cantlay but labelled the recent pace of play “a disgrace”.

“If you’re in a three-ball, in my opinion you should be round in four hours, four-and-a-half absolute maximum – it’s a disgrace to get anywhere near that. You’re talking five hours and 15 minutes, five-and-a-half hours at some venues and it’s truly appalling.

“The problem is this conversation has gone on for years and years and years, and no one has ever done anything so I feel it’s almost a waste of time talking about it. I have strong opinions, but no one’s going to do anything about it.”

So with all this in mind, this tweet made us laugh. Patrick Cantlay vs Black Caviar.

It’s difficult to defend this pace of play.

The world's fastest horse v The world's slowest golfer.
Black Caviar over 1000m or Patrick Cantlay over 4ft pic.twitter.com/n1WqPDMh6e

— Jarrad Dooley (@DigDooley) April 18, 2023