Monday 18 February 2019 13:24, UK
JB Holmes has defended his pace of play during the final day of the Genesis Open, although he admitted there are occasions where he could be quicker when taking his shot.
Holmes registered a first PGA Tour victory since 2015 with a one-stroke win at Riviera Country Club, where he was criticised during tournament coverage and on social media for slow play.
The American was described post-round by playing partner Adam Scott as "generally a slow player" and saw his deliberate pre-shot routine heavily scrutinised, although Holmes himself felt the conditions contributed to the speed of the final round.
"I'm not the fastest player, but it was really windy today [Sunday] and we waited a lot," Holmes said after his victory.
"I took a little bit longer at the end, but you're talking about getting down to the tournament, you're talking about the last nine holes of the tournament.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a lot of times the last group of the tournament gets a little bit behind. When I first got out here [on the PGA Tour] I was really slow, but I've sped up quite a bit.
"Like I said, the conditions made it tougher. There's times when I'm probably too slow, but it is what it is. I was never on the clock. TV wants everything to be real fast all the time."
Justin Thomas was also in Holmes' group during an extended final day, where they had to complete 33 holes due to weather delays earlier in the week, with Thomas letting a four-shot lead slip during the final round to finish in second spot.
"It was slow," Thomas admitted. "Nothing against our group, it was slow. I mean, we were waiting the whole first round [of the day], we were waiting a lot of the second round [final round].
"Then we got behind there a little bit I think because we were all playing poorly. There's a difference between slow golf and bad golf, and Adam and I just weren't playing good golf so that's hard to keep the pace up.
"But yeah, it was definitely kind of hard to keep going when you felt like you were waiting a lot."
