Eddie Pepperell has been one of Bryson DeChambeau’s most vocal critics when it comes to slow play.
DeChambeau, the defending champ, sits two shots off Ashun Wu’s 54-hole lead, while Pepperell trails by three with 18 holes to go in the European Tour event.
But golf fans probably will be more interested in this pairing’s interactions than how they finish considering Pepperell’s recent comments concerning the five-time PGA Tour winner. And to his credit, he pointed out the potentially awkward dynamic between the duo on Sunday with this tweet:
Fully understand if Bryson wants to keep hitting it 40 past me tomorrow so we don’t have to chat.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) January 25, 2020
Perfect.
In addition to being critical of DeChambeau’s pace of play—beginning with a tweet in August in which he referred to him as a “single minded twit”—Pepperell has poked fun at Bryson bulking up and his attempts to tweak world No. 1 Brooks Koepka. Here’s a concise summation by Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner:
Eddie Pepperell and Bryson paired Sunday in Dubai. Could be spicy! pic.twitter.com/6CJUryH9Rs
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) January 25, 2020
Pepperell apologised for the “twit” remark, but as you can see, DeChambeau has remained one of his favourite Twitter targets. DeChambeau has not publicly engaged with Eddie. At least, not yet. Come Sunday afternoon in Dubai it’s going to be impossible for them to avoid each other.