Rickie Fowler loses his mind at Players Championship spectator in furious exchange on tee box
Rickie Fowler was furious with one spectator
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Rickie Fowler is seen as one of the more laid-back players on the PGA Tour, but one fan at the Players Championship tested the American's patience.
Fowler had scraped through to make the cut at TPC Sawgrass after carding a three-under par round of 69 on Friday.
He struggled to take that momentum into Saturday though and was three-over par through to hole 14.
A birdie on the 15th appeared to get him back on track, but Fowler lost it on the very next hole.
Rickie Fowler pointed out the guilty party
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Just as Fowler was getting ready to tee off on the par-five 16th, something appeared to perturb him from the crowd.
Fowler's caddie, Ricky Romano, interjected to plead with someone to "hold the cameras".
He also requested all phones were put on silent before Fowler re-composed himself and stepped back up to the ball.
Fowler then striped his tee shot down the centre of the fairway, but immediately pointed to the crowd in anger.
The 35-year-old appeared furious as he shouted: "You! What are you doing?!"
Fowler continued pointing at who he felt was guilty of distracting him, even though his ball landed in the middle of the fairway.
Romano moaned: "Come on, I just said something."
The incident clearly got to Fowler too as his very next shot went into the water in a round-destroying hole.
He ended up carding a double bogey on his way to a disappointing round of 76.
Rickie Fowler angrily pointed at a fan who had made a noise just as he tee'd off on the 16th hole at TPC Sawgrass in The Players Championship 😠 pic.twitter.com/bdONEUMpw8
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) March 16, 2024
That leaves him three-over par for the tournament and tied-71st heading into Sunday.
Fowler will want to climb back up the leaderboard to improve his final prize money for the tournament.
The winning prize of $4.5m is out of reach for Fowler, but if he stays where he is now then he'll get around $50,000.
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Ricky Romano also complained about the noise
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Towards the top of the leaderboard, it's developed into an interesting battle between Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele and Brian Harman with Maverick McNealy also in close proximity.
Rory McIlroy had a solid end to his round with three consecutive birdies to leave him nine-under through 54 holes.
Matt Fitzpatrick is the only other British player inside the top 10 with the Players Championship winner looking likely to be an American once again.