Kevin Na has well earned his reputation as one of the slowest players in golf, the human rain delay of the PGA Tour.
Or has he?
“All these years they thought we were slow, and it turns out it was the guys with us,” Na’s caddie, Kenny Harms, joked after he and he and his guy finished a 1 hour, 59 minute round Sunday to conclude their otherwise forgettable Tour Championship.
Last on the Tour Championship leaderboard with no hope of reprieve, Na was left to go off first and play solo all weekend once Jason Day withdrew from the 30-player field with back issues. He had nothing but green in front of him. And green to the rear of him. By the end of Sunday, he had put six holes between himself and the next twosome.
Sunday Na spontaneously decided to break into a trot between shots. Golf became a good run spoiled. Midway through the round he was looking at his watch as much as his scorecard. “I made the turn in one hour and three minutes. I said, well, I don’t think I can get it under two, but let’s try,” Na said.
Fans got into the quest as well. When he slowed down at No. 15, they urged him to pick it up. He complied.
The caddie with the 40-pound bag, the kid carrying the scoring placard and the attending scorekeeper had to keep up. A few spectators even joined the chase.
Na said it wasn’t his intention to thumb his nose at all the static over his place of play — just a couple years ago he was beset by an almost crippling habit of waggling before hitting his tee ball. “It was really just about having fun,” he said. “I wanted to break par today and play well. Finish on a good note.”
And, even finishing the tournament at 13 over, in undisputed last, Na did end on a terrific note. Even as he picked up the pace on the back side, playing that in 56 minutes, he birdied his last four holes and shot his best round of the week, a 70.
“Maybe I ought to run more often,” he said.
Na said there was no plan at the beginning of the day to set any land speed record at East Lake. It just sort of happened as he got into the round and began to notice how quickly it was going. But just playing fast wasn’t enough.
“I was trying to also shoot a good score because it doesn’t matter how fast you play if you put up like a 78 or an 80. That really doesn’t do any good. I wanted to shoot something around par to break the record here.”
Informed that there was no official record for fastest competition round at East Lake – he believed Davis Love III had one in the 2:10 to 2:15 range – Na nonetheless was claiming one for the ages.
“Nobody’s going to break that record shooting even par or better. If you go ahead and quick-hit it, yeah, you’ll break it. To birdie the last four holes, that’s pretty cool.”
Not a runner by nature, Na said he can put in a mile, maybe two on the treadmill without stopping. “Not terrible for a golfer,” he said.
He got in all the cardio he needed in the last round of the last event of the season.
And, even playing speed golf on a 90-degree Sunday afternoon in the south, Na said he wasn’t feeling all that spent. He looked quite happy at the end, content in the knowledge that the slowest of players had just completed the quickest of rounds.
Cheesecake for everybody.
“I burned some calories today. I deserve some kind of dessert after dinner,” said the 167-pound Na.
About the Author
