Bryson DeChambeau believes he has been an unfair target of criticism for slow play at The Northern Trust, with the world number eight vehemently defending himself after being widely rebuked by fans and players alike.
Clips were shared on social media showing the American taking more than two minutes to play both a 70-yard pitch and a putt from inside 10 feet, which he missed, at Liberty National in New Jersey.
A number of fans were quick to show their disapproval on Twitter, and the likes of Ian Poulter, Rich Beem and Eddie Pepperell joined the dissenting voices, the latter labelling DeChambeau a "single-minded twit".
Justin Thomas - one of DeChambeau's playing partners on Friday - said after the round: "The slow people know who they are, and they just need to play faster."
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However, after posting a third-round 71 on Saturday, DeChambeau addressed the issue and defended the way he plays the game.
"A lot of it [slow play] is [down to] the caddies. A lot of it is the other players," DeChambeau said. "They don't care about walking fast. I play a different way out there.
"I take my 40 seconds that's allotted, sometimes over, absolutely. Totally agree. It's maybe five per cent of the time.
"But I'll tell you that it's really kind of unfortunate the way it's perceived because there's a lot of other guys that take a lot of time. They don't talk about this matter and for me, personally, it is an attack and it is something that is not me whatsoever.
"People don't realise the harm they are doing to the individuals."
Discussing the fellow professionals who criticised him on Twitter, DeChambeau added: "Look, they are great individuals. I'm not going to say anything bad about them.
"My competitors here on tour, they have all been nice to me and I don't have any issues with any of them.
"We are all trying to do our best to play well and make our livelihoods and win tournaments, right. But when you start personally attacking people on Twitter, it's like, come on, dude. Let's have some more, I was going to say something else, but let's have some more balls ... speak to me to my face about that.
"When people start talking to me about slow play and how I'm killing the game, I'm doing this and that to the game, that is complete and utter you-know-what. That's not fair."
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