The alarming reason why a heckler disrupted golf event won by Steph Curry

Curry wasn’t the one bystander who was irked. Fish stated his personal caddie was additionally “form of pissed,” including, “He’s received his eyeballs on this man and doubtless going to say one thing after I hit. So I reset. I take the membership again and proper on the prime of my backswing — and it wasn’t like within the downswing, it was proper on the prime — he type of yells, I don’t know what he yelled, some type of hen sound or one thing. He received me good.”

That second heckle was captured on the NBC telecast, however the first was not.

Fish’s drive went into the bushes left of the green, eliminating any probability of him reaching the inexperienced in two. After his tee shot, he stated, his and Curry’s caddies, together with Curry and Curry’s father, Dell, tracked down the heckler.

“It was truly form of cool to see the camaraderie of everybody being like, ‘That’s not cool, man. We don’t need to win like that, we don’t need to play like that,’” Fish stated.

“And you can inform that Steph is definitely bothered by him to the place once we received right down to the inexperienced and he’s gotten on in two and had an eagle putt, I walked by him and stated, ‘Dude, make the putt. Don’t fear about it.’”

Curry did make the putt, an 18-footer for a dramatic eagle. When Fish may handle solely a par, Curry was the victor by two factors.

However again to the heckler. Why had he chosen Fish as his mark, and at such a crucial juncture? Fish stated the heckler informed the group that had approached him that he had “wager on Steph to win and so he wished him to win.”

A fan making an attempt to affect the result of a golf match?

“I’m shocked it doesn’t occur extra typically, to be trustworthy,” Fish stated. “The man most likely had some huge cash on Steph.”

Fish’s issues aren’t remoted. PGA Tour professionals have voiced a few of the identical worries concerning the prospect of followers with motion on a match probably making an attempt to distract gamers.

On the Memorial two years in the past, Jon Rahm stated, “It’s going to maintain taking place in golf with the entire DraftKings and betting dwell occurring. I caught a pair occasions yesterday seeing considered one of my enjoying companions miss a putt and folks simply exchanging money proper subsequent to the inexperienced.

“So it’s going to occur. I believe as gamers we have to do our half to strive our greatest to not get affected by it. However I additionally assume that the Tour must sooner or later additionally defend the gamers.”

For his or her half, Fish and Curry made the most effective of what was a deeply regrettable state of affairs.

“Mardy is such a category act,” Curry informed reporters after the spherical. “I complimented the way in which he bounced again to offer himself an opportunity to make a putt on the final gap. It’s form of arduous to acknowledge that and in addition perceive that, if I make that putt, such as you stated, we go to a playoff, and if he makes that putt on the inexperienced, he wins.

“It’s robust. Like I stated, I hated it. In that second, I felt simply embarrassed for like all the opposite followers as a result of there’s a lot nice love for the 99.9 % of the opposite those that come into this setting and are so supportive and convey a lot power, and you bought one man that loses his thoughts for a second.”

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s govt editor, Bastable is accountable for the editorial path and voice of one of many sport’s most revered and extremely trafficked information and repair websites. He wears many hats — modifying, writing, ideating, creating, daydreaming of in the future breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely gifted and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Earlier than grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the options editor at GOLF Journal. A graduate of the College of Richmond and the Columbia Faculty of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey together with his spouse and foursome of youngsters.