Someone other than Rory McIlroy seems to remember his disastrous final round at the 2011 Masters. At that time, the current World No. 2 was leading the tournament after three rounds. Just when victory seemed within his grasp, McIlroy hooked a drive on the 10th hole, resulting in a triple-bogey and an overall score of 80. Fast forward to the 2025 PLAYERS Championship, and McIlroy found himself in a similar situation during a practice round. As he and Shane Lowry approached the 18th tee, McIlroy pulled his tee shot into the water. This mishap did not sit well with Luke Potter, who recently won his first NCAA golf tournament on Monday.

Standing behind the 18th tee box with his fellow Longhorns teammate, the young golfer said, “Just like the 2011 Masters.” Although the video didn’t capture his exact words, it seemed to anger McIlroy enough that he approached the two men and asked for their phone. “Can I see your phone?” Without waiting for a response, McIlroy grabbed the phone and walked away. According to Golf.com, he eventually returned the phone, but the outcome was that Luke Potter had to leave the premises. While Luke Potter’s behavior is undoubtedly annoying, it’s McIlroy’s reaction to the comment that is drawing criticism.

Recently, Tron Carter, Young Neil, and Big Randy sat down for a discussion on the No Laying Up podcast. Carter described Potter’s behavior as “super, super weird.” Neil referenced a 2020 incident involving Patrick Reed at the PLAYERS, where Reed had a fan removed for asking him to sign a shovel, and he called both incidents “lame.” “I’m gonna say the same thing here. I think that’s really lame. Like, is the kid being a d**chebag? Yeah, but just walk off. Who gives a sh*t?”

What happens next? McIlroy refuses to speak to reporters about the incident, stating, “Because I don’t want you to [ask the question].” Tron describes McIlroy’s response as “weird energy,” while Neil adds that it feels like McIlroy has a “me against the world” vibe. Big Randy chimes in, saying, “I just feel like he should have just told the kid to f*ck off!”

However, criticizing McIlroy doesn’t mean they excuse Potter’s behavior. “I think that’s just as lame. But two wrongs don’t make a right here.” Interestingly, Luke Potter seems to have reflected on his actions; he issued a written apology to McIlroy, stating, “It’s just a good learning experience. Yeah, I apologize.” Unfortunately, the relationship between golf and hecklers is an age-old issue. Here’s a brief look at it.

The golf greens and the issue of hecklers

Back in 2016, Matt Rapp, the former executive director of the PLAYERS Championship, promised that the tournament would not tolerate heckling. “We’re going to take a much more active stance that heckling won’t be tolerated. Anyone heckling will be removed. We know it’s just a couple of bad apples, but it makes us look, as a community and as a tournament, like we don’t have our best face on.” But did it work? Not really.

Fast forward to 2019, when one of the leading golfers, Ian Poulter, revealed that he faced verbal abuse in front of his family members at The PLAYERS. The incident began when Poulter was paired with Brian Gay on Saturday. It escalated to the point where Gay had to apologize to Poulter for the behavior of his fellow countrymen. Poulter described the incident as “disappointing.”

In 2023, the World No. 70 faced a similar heckling issue at the BMW Championship when a fan openly cheered for him to miss a birdie putt during the third round. Despite the distraction, Homa made the putt and reflected on the incident, saying, “It’s just always something that’s on your mind. It’s on us to stay focused, but it’s just annoying when it happens.”

More recently, Rickie Fowler encountered a heckler during the third round of the Cognizant Classic. After missing a birdie putt on the challenging par-4 sixteenth hole, Fowler engaged in a verbal exchange with a fan, retorting, “Of course, you know. That’s why you are in the stands.”

Having witnessed these incidents, fans resonate with Rory McIlroy’s 2019 comment: “It’s a shame in this day and age where people get great satisfaction from trying to disturb or put off athletes.” Following this, McIlroy called for a ban on alcohol on the greens. Will there ever be a solution?