The report says Rory McIlroy had a heated exchange with a spectator during the final round of the PGA Championship after a “U-S-A!” shout from the gallery at Aronimink Golf Club, an incident that followed an errant shot out of heavy rough at the scoreable 16th hole.
The report says McIlroy was three strokes behind eventual champion Aaron Rai on the par-5 16th when his second shot out of the rough from 37 yards was short and bounded into a bunker. He appeared to respond to the shout by using an expletive and telling the fan to “shut up,” then spun, glared at the spectator, grumbled under his breath and seemed to point the person out to security.
McIlroy said earlier in the week that the outlandish and abusive fan behavior he endures is usually limited to one week every four years, when those matches are contested in the U.S., per the report. Sunday’s interaction was described as far less severe than what he heard at Bethpage in New York.
The report says McIlroy started the final round three strokes behind the leaders and struggled to make up ground while others were finding the Donald Ross layout scoreable. He managed just one birdie on the front nine, made a bogey 5 at the drivable par-4 13th and added one more birdie coming in, settling for a 69 to tie for seventh at 4 under.
He did not comment on the fan interaction but acknowledged that he left some strokes on the course. “I think not birdieing the two par-5s and making the bogey at the drivable par-4 13th,” he said. “To me, I felt like I played the golf I needed to play the rest of the way. If I birdied the two par-5s and turned that 5 into a 3 on 13, the day looks very different,” the report says.
