Brooks Koepka miffed about pace of play after letting Masters green jacket slip away

Brooks Koepka was pretty annoyed about losing the Masters to Jon Rahm on Sunday, especially after leading the field by four shots at one point, but he was miffed about one thing in particular: the pace of play.

The media asked Koepka about the pace of play after the tournament Sunday. He was in the final pairing with Rahm, and he was not pleased about the pace of the pairing in front of them.

“The group in front of us was brutally slow," Koepka said via Golf Monthly. "Jon [Rahm] went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting."

Koepka didn't mention any players by name, but when you say "the group in front of us," it's pretty easy to find out who it is. Viktor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay were in the group immediately in front of Koepka and Rahm, and teed off nine minutes ahead of the final group.

That nine-minute lead appeared to have evaporated pretty quickly, and Koepka was not happy with how slow the pace was. Whether it affected his play (or led to his final round implosion) isn't known, but it couldn't have helped. As for the ultimate culprit of the glacial pace of the final two pairings, one incident Sunday sheds a bit more light on that.

Hovland was apparently so peeved at Cantlay's snail-like speed that at one hole, he played his next shot before Cantlay had even arrived. You can see Hovland hitting his shot at the right of the screen while Cantlay and his caddy are still pretty far away.

Koepka, who plays for LIV Golf, had a solid chance to win the Masters on Sunday, but admitted he "didn’t play good enough to win." He came into the round with a lead, but didn't birdie until the 13th hole, at which point he'd already made four bogeys. He shot a 75 and ended the tournament tied for second place with fellow LIV Golf player Phil Mickelson at -8. Rahm won his first green jacket with a -12 after going -3 in the final round.