One day after Kevin Na shot a scintillating 9-under 61 to grab the first-round lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Na was criticized for his slow play, especially on the greens, by many on social media. But it got personal when fellow Tour pro Grayson Murray inserted himself in the conversation.
Na, the defending champ, has a long reputation for slow play and he became the poster boy for it when he led the 2012 Players Championship on the weekend despite all of his waggles and inability at times to pull the trigger. He’s worked hard to improve his pace of play – and there are even slower snails on the Tour these days – but his pace grabbed attention again when Murray responded to an innocuous tweet by golf TV reporter Chantel McCabe. Her tweet read: “Kevin Na walking in putts does not get old.”
The birdie for the lead! (golf clap ????)
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) January 14, 2022
What a day of golf for @kevinna915!
????: GOLF pic.twitter.com/SgResNG5HM
Murray, 28, who stepped away from the Tour last year to deal with personal issues pertaining to alcohol, responded: “Kevin Na taking 3 minutes to putt them does get old.”
Ooh, shots fired. Yes, Murray went there. Na could’ve taken the high road and let it go, but we’re kind of happy he didn’t. “[You] missing the cut is getting old,” Na responded. Zing!
Na wasn’t wrong either. Murray, whose lone win was at the 2017 Barbasol Championship, has missed the cut in 13 of his last 17 events and withdrew in two of his last three starts. He hasn’t made a cut since March.
Murray wasn’t done yet jabbing back, “If they penalized you like they should for slow play you’d never make another cut either.”
This Twitter beef escalated quickly, and we’ll have to wait and see whether there’s more to come or this kerfuffle gets nipped in the bud.
u missing the cut is getting old!
— Kevin Na (@kevinna915) January 15, 2022
If they penalized you like they should for slow play you’d never make another cut either. https://t.co/6oY80JrEDy
— Grayson Murray (@GraysonMurray) January 15, 2022
This article originally appeared on Golfweek.
