Eddie Pepperell has taken to Twitter to apologise to Bryon DeChambeau for labelling the American 'a twit' following a row over slow play in recent days.
The PGA Tour in the USA are to review their pace of play policy in the wake of the criticism DeChambeau received at the Northern Trust tournament in New Jersey.
DeChambeau took more than two minutes to take an eight foot putt, while waiting a similar length of time to execute a 70 yard chip.
Speaking before the tournament, world number one Brooks Koepka said the issue of slow play was 'getting out of hand'.
Englishman Pepperell, who is not afraid of speaking his mind on Twitter, waded into the row to call DeChambeau a 'single-minded twit' who 'doesn't care much for others'.
Today, he returned to the social media platform to issue a mea culpa, saying:
"Seems my comment regarding Bryson's slow play has garnered plenty of attention and I just want to sincerely apologise to Bryson for being personal and referring to him as a 'twit'. That was unnecessary and something I shouldn't have said."
DeChambeau's groups were not put on the clock on Thursday and Friday. It took 4 hours and 51 minutes for his group to play their rounds on Friday.
The player who is nicknamed 'The Scientist', hit back at his critics, saying:
"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."
With Rory McIlroy also chiming in to recommend that players receive a warning and then a penalty of a shot, it seems golf's authorities may finally have to act on the issue that could be threatening to the viability of the game in the long-term.
