“Kick the guy off the course immediately”: Fan disturbing Rickie Fowler during his tee shot gets backlash from golf fans
Rickie Fowler recently blew up at a fan during the third round of the Players Championship as the fan disrupted his rhythm.
On the 16th hole during the third round of the Players Championship, Rickie Fowler made a poor shot that left him frustrated. He then pointed to a fan in the gallery whose phone went off while he was taking the shot.
Ricky Romano, who is Fowler's caddie, had asked the fan to switch off his phone multiple times before the American started his hole. Fowler then ended up making a double bogey on the par-5 hole, concluding the third round of the tournament with a score of 76.
Golf fans have now expressed disappointment in the audience member who caused the disturbance.
"Kick the guy off the course immediately. I think that they are adequately warned about this before they come on the course. If you can anger a nice guy like Rickie, you clearly broke the rule," one X(formerly Twitter) user wrote.
Another wrote:
"Golf fans may be the most toxic in sports. This crap started 30 years ago with the "you're the man" nonsense. Now fans make sarcastic "digs" at players like the PGA is their Wednesday Night Duffer League. Rather than just watch, they want to be in the action. Enough already!"
One account posted:
"That guy should be banned from all PGA events for 5 years."
Rickie Fowler denies talks with LIV Golf about switch, plans to stay on PGA Tour
Recently, there have been rumors about Rickie Fowler joining the LIV Golf Series. However, Fowler was quick to dismiss these rumors, especially as he discussed the efforts the PGA Tour board is making for the circuit's future.
Fowler told CNBC:
"Seeing how much work the guys on the PGA Tour board, especially being around Patrick Cantlay during the offseason a little bit and leading up to this event, I've never seen a person be on the phone so much. With Jordan Spieth, Cantlay, Tiger Woods and the other guys, I've just trusted that we're all going to end up in a good spot and I have zero plans to go anywhere,"
The discussions between the LIV Golf Series and the PGA Tour are still ongoing, and the framework agreement is expected to be finalized before the 2024 Masters.