PGA Tour veteran Rickie Fowler has built a reputation over the years of being a fan favorite. But in Round 3 of the Players Championship on Saturday, he got into an extremely heated interaction with a fan in attendance who distracted him during one of his tee shots.
Things didn’t go all that well for Fowler on the day. He went into his final three holes at two-over par on the day and one-over par for the tournament.
When he stepped up to the tee box on the 16th hole, Fowler’s caddie, Ricky Romano appeared to take notice that one of the nearby fans had their phone noise on, which can obviously be a bit of an issue in terms of disrupting Fowler’s concentration on his first shot of the hole.
Romano reminded everyone to make sure to silence their phones.
“Hold the cameras for me, please. We need all the phones on silent,” Romano said which was captured on the broadcast.
Fowler then went up to hit his shot, and did so with an incredibly awkward follow-through. Right away, he pointed out a fan in frustration, yelling at him for seemingly distracting him in some way during his shot.
“Buddy, you!” said Fowler as he pointed angrily at the fan.
Romano also added to Fowler’s frustration towards the fan after his player’s shot.
“Come on, I just said something!”
The whole interaction was posted on social media by a fan account dedicated for Fowler.
FULL video here https://t.co/4eCaaB3fRr pic.twitter.com/G7rni8ssh7
— Rickie Fowler Tracker (@Rickie_Tracker) March 16, 2024
Naturally, viewers had plenty to say about this incident, taking to social media to offer their opinion on Fowler’s outburst.
I mean I’d be pissed too https://t.co/PnPRWxtTpd
— Trace (@T_adkins98) March 16, 2024
Anyone would react the same way, especially after he’d already been told to put it on silent. 🤯
— Min Woo Lee Tracker (@trackingminwoo) March 16, 2024
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.
— Mark Harris (@GPI_Mark) March 16, 2024
Definitely a strange situation. It’s 2024, I thought everyone always had their phone on silent.
— 🚫🧀 (@dlnoch) March 16, 2024
Did they toss the fan? Should have been ejected.
— David (@davidwilley122) March 16, 2024
Funny enough, even with the awkward follow through on the shot, the drive from Fowler hit the dead center of the fairway. So it really didn’t end up being all that much of an issue for him at the end of the day.
Regardless, it is certainly pretty disrespectful for whoever this fan was to be distracting Fowler even after being warned by his caddie.
Fowler would finish his day at four-over par for the round and three-over par for the tournament, which is tied for last place of all players that are playing the weekend. So it certainly seems safe to say that Fowler will be leaving TPC Sawgrass very disappointed about his play.
