Golfers are renowned for their terrible and awkward celebrations during big moments, which typically consist of stilted or missed high-fives. But in recent years, there’s a new scourge in golf: the bungling of post-round handshakes, often at the most celebratory moments. It was just last week that Ted Bishop went for a handshake with Rory McIlroy, dropping the Wanamaker Trophy in the process. Fortunately, this is a stretch where Rory can do no wrong, and he was there to rescue the PGA President during this horrifying moment.
U.S. Amateur winner, USGA President deliver latest and most awkward botched handshake
The heads of golf’s most prestigious organizations keep struggling to perform one of our most simple human interactions.
David Cannon
This week, it was the President of the USGA’s turn to be on the wrong end of an awkward and embarrassing moment. Longshot Gunn Yang came out of nowhere to win the U.S. Amateur, the most coveted amateur title in golf. O’Toole was there to congratulate him, but there were more trophy complications. Yang, perhaps recalling Bishop’s mess, kept both hands on the trophy instead of grasping O’Toole’s outstretched hand (GIF via GeoffShackelford.com)
O’Toole’s panicked turn to the camera is wonderful and only makes it worse. In my inexpert opinion, that’s the most heinous “left hangin’” moment I can recall in golf.
The most notorious, of course, was Bubba Watson and Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne’s missed connection back in 2012.
And these moments aren’t limited to official ceremonies with the heads of game’s top organizations. Tom Rinaldi’s cruel rebuff of Jordan Spieth was the awkward moment of the British Open last year.
For our sake, we hope this keeps happening because it seems to get more and more awkward as this simple human interaction continues to get botched on live TV.
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