Matt Fitzpatrick slammed slow play at the Open yesterday as “ridiculous” and “a joke” after taking over six hours to complete his opening round.
The US Open champion teed off with Tiger Woods at 2.59pm and did not finish until 9.07pm in the fading light.
Fitzpatrick, who shot a level-par 72, fumed: “It's just a joke, isn't it? Like six hours, 10, this just shouldn't be happening ever in golf. It's the way the golf course is set up. It's how firm it is. The way the golf course is designed. You're crossing over a lot, and to get better angles and better lines, you've got to hit across all the fairways. There's nothing you can do unfortunately about it. It's just sad more than anything. It's just ridiculous.
"You've just got to be prepared for it before. Billy (Foster) warned me before. You've got to accept that it's going to be long rounds. But, yeah, it's just disappointing it takes six hours to get around the golf course. That just shouldn't be happening.”
The heatwave has made the Old Course rock hard while the R&A put in tricky pin positions for the first round.
Rory McIlroy, who opened with a 66, had a long wait on the fifth tee during his round. “It's quite stop-start, but I think St Andrews is that way,” said the world No.2. “There's a lot of crisscrossing and waiting on other greens and waiting on greens to clear because the drivable par-4s. So I think, especially the first two days when it's the full field, it's to be expected. It is what it is.
"Thankfully it speeds up over the weekend and two balls, and it gets moving a little bit more. But I think playing this tournament, you expect it to be that way the first couple of days.”
His playing partner, defending champion Collin Morikawa, said: “I figured it would be slow, but I didn't know it would be this slow. 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. That's part of it this week of just staying patient and make sure you're not rushing your shots.”
The final group finished in near darkness at 10.25pm.
