'That Was Really Frustrating' - Matt Fitzpatrick Reacts To Partner's 'Glacial' Pace Of Play At Valspar Championship

The fact that Matt Fitzpatrick won the Valspar Championship at all was remarkable - not least because of frustration that was building inside his own head during the final round.

Part of that was down to a handful of good putts which just refused to drop throughout the first 14 holes, but the majority of Fitzpatrick's irritation was due to his playing partner's painfully slow pace.

Adrien Dumont de Chassart's day will not be fondly remembered by anyone after a triple-bogey eight at the first and another at the 11th. But the rest of his round did not contain any further nightmares, so the pair should have - in theory - been able to keep up with the group in front.

During the NBC broadcast, on-course reporter John Wood called Dumont de Chassart's speed "glacial, to be kind."

A build-up of negative emotion caused Fitzpatrick, on the 11th hole, to hit his approach before the Belgian (even though he was closer to the green) and wander up to the putting surface while waiting three minutes more for Dumont de Chassart to play.

At that point, the 2022 US Open winner found a rules official and asked them to do something. The 26-year-old, who did not help himself by taking a long time to untangle himself from the mess his tee shot had created, was unofficially timed before being given an official warning later down the back nine.

Throughout the round, Fitzpatrick and his toiling playing partner were constantly under the watchful eyes of a referee which was annoying the Englishman as he tried to contend for the title. There was even a reported glare in Dumont de Chassart's direction at one point from Fitzpatrick after a holed putt by the Ryder Cup star.

Luckily for Fitzpatrick, a lack of rhythm did not upset his chances of victory too badly and he clinched a second outright PGA Tour title to follow up the RBC Heritage victory from 2023.

Meanwhile, Dumont de Chassart finished the week with a three-over 74 to leave him T26th on three-under-par.

During his champion's press conference, Fitzpatrick was asked about his final-round frustrations over the group's pace.

Although he failed to name drop Dumont de Chassart specifically, the direction of Fitzpatrick's annoyance was clear.

He said: "Yeah, that was really frustrating. It was slow today. I felt like there was a lot of stop-start. Yeah, just, you know, just not ready.

"When you're not ready to play a golf shot it gets frustrating after a while. Particularly when you playing well yourself or you're in contention or whatever it is...

"It definitely knocks you out of your rhythm because you hit, you walk to it, you kind of think about it, you hit again, and you go.

"There in particular, that hole [the 11th], then you're around a stretch there that can get a little bit quirky with different shots and stuff, so you have to be on it. It definitely knocked me out of rhythm I felt like for the next two, three holes.

"I was kind of chasing my tail, because I'm trying to speed up and trying to keep us or get back in position, and at the same time you're obviously trying to win a golf tournament. So it's like at that point in the week it's kind of a hard balance, yeah."

The 31-year-old has spoken about the issue many times previously and rarely minces his words, such is his passion for the subject of slow play.

One particularly memorable monologue arrived after his win at Harbor Town in 2023, when Fitzpatrick called out the tours for their lack of action over the issue.

Speaking to Sky Sports at the time, he said: "I think they give us way too much leeway to get round. 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-fifteen, five-and-a-half at some venues and it's truly appalling.

“The problem is, though, 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 every time. I have my opinions - they’re probably strong opinions - but PGA Tour, DP World Tour, no one’s going to do anything about it.”