Love Has Run - In With Heckling Fans

AP via NYTimes.com ^ | 7/7/02

[GeneD]

Filed at 9:10 p.m. ET

LEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- Davis Love III has had it with obnoxious fans.

Heckled mercilessly by some in the gallery who seem to have forgotten that golf is a genteel sport, Love yelled back during Sunday's final round at the Western Open.

After blasting out of a tricky spot in the rough on the par-4 17th, Love looked at a fan, glared and started toward him.

After telling the fan to be quiet, he headed back to the fairway.

``They're just overstepping their bounds,'' said Love, who finished two strokes behind winner Jerry Kelly. ``They're yelling before you hit and screaming after you hit. When you walk up on a green, they're telling you which way the putt breaks.

``They're not supposed to yell at the players. They're not supposed to give players advice, and they're not supposed to tell players what to do and interfere in their game.''

But galleries at some PGA Tour events are looking more and more like something out of ``Caddyshack'' these days. The mild-mannered country club set who clap politely after a putt have been joined by those who don't seem to know much about etiquette.

The Phoenix Open is notorious for its raucous, beer-drinking gallery. As Chris DiMarco stood over a putt at this year's tournament, one fan actually yelled out ``Noonan!'' as if he was playing in the movie's caddie tournament.

``People don't have respect for other people and don't have respect for what they do,'' Love said. ``I'm certainly not going to go out and disrupt a business person in their business life, and they shouldn't disrupt our game. If they're not having any fun and they have to yell and scream to have fun, they ought to go somewhere else, because it's fun to watch good golf and not interfere with it.''

While fans have been gotten more brazen with every year, things really got out of hand at last month's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black on Long Island. The New York fans had something to say about -- and to -- just about every player who went by, and they weren't afraid to let even the biggest stars have it.

They were especially brutal to Sergio Garcia, peppering him with shouts of ``Whiner'' and ``Waggle Boy.''

``Everyone saw on TV the fans doing the wave and yelling and screaming and yelling at players as they were chipping in,'' Love said. ``Just like when the first guy started yelling, `You're the man!' and everybody copied him and it's just annoying.

``I sound like my mom, but it's lack of respect for other people and for what they do.''

The fans were so obnoxious Saturday that Love said his 14-year-old daughter came off the course.

``The majority of them fans are very good, and a bunch of younger, drunken people make it hard on the players to make it fun for the majority,'' he said.

But like it or not, this is what golf has come to, Kelly said. Kelly, a fan favorite from nearby Madison, Wis., didn't hear much heckling Sunday, but fans thought nothing of yelling at him throughout his round. He even joked back with a few.

``Every other sport gets heckled but golf. Unfortunately, the heckling is coming,'' Kelly said. ``You're going to have to have some thick skin to play this game from now on, because New York just opened a nice, big can of worms.''

[hole_n_one]

``They're not supposed to yell at the players. They're not supposed to give players advice, and they're not supposed to tell players what to do and interfere in their game.''

DL III, the way you've been playing, you might do well to listen to them.

[DoctorMichael]

Just remember.............GOLF is FLOG, spelled backwards.

[Rebelbase]

Happy Gilmore would kick the heckler's butts.

[hole_n_one]

Love fell apart on the last 3 holes, and, just like the loser he is.......he attempts to deflect the blame for his shortcomings upon someone else.

Western Open

[rabidralph]

Yes, a good flogging would shut them up.

[proxy_user]

What? DL III has been playing very well lately, since recovering from his neck injury. Second at Hartford, second today, shooting five under in the final round. Nearly every drive was right down the middle and long. I don't see much I would change in a game like that.

[Guillermo]

Loser?

How many majors have YOU won? How many tourneys have YOU won? What are your tour career earnings?

How do you like it when people yell at you as you're about to strike a ball? I guess it's OK if you're a Pro.

I think you're jealous, loser. Punk.

[Constitution Day]

I was truly hoping it was Courtney Love.
I think she's a nasty, opportunistic, loudmouthed trollop of the first order.

[michaelt]

The story you've linked to has Love not blaming the fans for his finish.

[KSCITYBOY]

Dear Mr. One - I have to say over the past 5 years the manners of people on the golf course has been in a downward spiral.. First you get yahoos out there yelling at the top of their lungs when they make or miss a putt - or they come out of nowhere on a cart right in front of you just as your ready to tee off or like tonight I was behind a group (who really sucked) they drove their golf cart right across the tee box to go to a dubbed shot. So either really stupid and rude jerkoffs have started playing golf or the terminally stupid have started mating at a ever increasing rate and the world will soon be over run by them. The world may be doomed!

[JonH]

Through Sunday, Davis Love III has won $1,457,000 thus far in 2002 (and he was out for several weeks with an injury).

May be he should retire.

[BradyLS]

How does Tiger Woods deal with it? Baseball players at the plate, basketball players at the freethrow line, and football players attempting a field goal seem to deal with it OK.

But if it's that big a problem, it sounds like the PGA and the courses they play on need to develop and enforce rules about fan conduct.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

Love fell apart on the last 3 holes, and, just like the loser he is.......he attempts to deflect the blame for his shortcomings upon someone else.

Love is a choker! At least he doesn't need steroids like Tiger "Steroid Freak" Woods to win golf tournaments.

Maybe he should consider it.

[BradyLS]

The answer is obvious: greens fees, club dues, and entry fees to watch need to go up. If the problem persists, well....

[hole_n_one]

You're talking to the same person that thinks Michael Jordan is a loser.

Perhaps our difference lies in each of our definitions of the word loser.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

DLIII is playing awesome. He seems to have a nice 2-4 month stretch every year. During that stretch he usually pulls off one tournament. More often then not, however, he comes up short(like Mickelson)when the pressure is on. Yes, Hoch last year & Jerry Kelly this year were on fire. Love was going neck & neck until a costly bogey down the stretch. Great ones avoid that. Love has probably won 12 times on tour, but he has the talent to win 30.

[RightOnGOP]

``I sound like my mom, but it's lack of respect for other people and for what they do.''

Love is exactly correct. This quote sums up much of what is wrong with our world today. Kids need manners, manners breed respect, and respect allows humanity to coexist.

Bravo to him for saying it. I wish more players/spectators would shun those who are misbehaving into shutting their big mouths.

[Guillermo]

Any rational person, when discussing whether Michael Jordan is a loser or not, would be talking about his exploits on the court.

The same goes for any sportsman, for that matter.

[hoppity]

Tiger deals with it the way all of the other Tour players do-- he tells them where to go. Didn't you see him back off his shot at the Open when a photographer shot him right before he pulled the trigger? Turned around and yelled, "come on!" Other professional sports have a constant noise level to which players become accustomed.

In golf, the majority of the time is quiet, because most fans of golf are well-mannered. When a knucklehead blurts out something stupid, it can screw you up.