Bubba Watson has enjoyed a somewhat testy relationship with golf fans over the years. Unlike fellow competitors who choose to ignore the hecklers and seem able to tune it all out, Watson has shown a willingness to engage when he feels someone has crossed the line.
Our latest example popped up Thursday morning at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, where Watson is playing Billy Horschel in the second round of group play.
It’s unclear what was said to Watson as he teed off on the par-4 third hole, but the two-time Masters champion didn’t take long to fire back and call the offender a fake tough guy.
“It’s funny how tough you are but then looked away,” Watson said. “Very funny. Everybody’s big behind the ropes.”
Watson lost a hard-fought match to Kevin Na, 1 up, on Wednesday and faces Jordan Spieth Friday on the final day of group play.
The issue of fan heckling popped up again just two weeks ago at the Players Championship, where Ian Poulter was reportedly given the business throughout the week and said final-round playing partner Brian Gay apologized to him on behalf of the TPC Sawgrass fans.
“You obviously know there’s a problem if your playing partner doesn’t feel very comfortable, or he apologized and said he’s embarrassed for the local support at TPC,” Poulter said. “For the most part, the fans are amazing. When you’ve got 25 to 30,000 fans that follow an event, you’ve always got a few that unfortunately have a couple too many beers, that are there with a group of guys, and obviously they get a bit of guts, courage and one spurs on another one. So it’s a shame in this day and age where people get great satisfaction from trying to disturb or put off athletes.”
