Getting hit by an errant golf ball by Rory McIlroy or Rickie Fowler can be something of a badge of honor for a spectator, who often walks away with an autographed glove to sooth the bruise. On the other hand, a spectator hitting Rory or Rickie with a golf ball — even if said missile has a bizarre attachment like an earplug — will likely earn the perpetrator an armed escort off the grounds and perhaps a night in the local hoosegow.
PGA Tour fan throws golf ball with earplug attached at Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Some idiot, for reasons thus far known only to himself, tossed the earplug-festooned ball at the duo after McIlroy teed off on the par-3 sixth hole during Thursday’s first round of the Wells Fargo Championship.
“So random,” Fowler told the Associated Press after the flying orb nearly hit him as he was preparing to hit his tee shot. “The guy tried to say it was a gift. I don’t know why you would give a gift of a golf ball with an earplug attached to it.”
If the misguided dolt hurled the ball as a belated present for McIlroy, who turned 27 on Wednesday, the birthday boy was unimpressed.
“Just it was one of those things,” said McIlroy. “It was a golf ball with an earplug stuck on it, so it was sort of strange. Charlotte’s finest [police] sorted it out and got him off the property, thankfully.”
Throwing objects at players marks a new low in imbecilic — and potentially dangerous — behavior by fans at golf tournaments. Kind of makes the jerks who yell “mashed potatoes” and other annoying inanities look like Mensa candidates.
McIlroy birdied the hole in the middle of three straight birds on his back nine (the group, including Hideki Matsuyama, started on No. 1) and on his way to a closing 3-under 33.
Combined with a rusty outward 4-over 40, McIlroy ended his Quail Hollow opener nine shots back of 18-hole leader Andrew Loupe.
Fowler carded a par on the hole and his overall 71 put him in a 24-way tie for 30th place heading into Friday’s second round.
See More:
