04/19/24
June 22, 2009
Drunks Heckle Tiger Woods, Fred Funk at US Open: During a long day of golf due to rain, drunk fans heckled Tiger Woods, Fred Funk and other golfers as the action at Bethpage Black came to a close Sunday. "Suck it up, you've got your own video game!" one fan yelled at Woods as he waited to play under an umbrella.
From the article: We're on Long Island baby, where men are men! Put that umbrella down!
Men that can't hold their booze, apparently.
posted by mjkredliner at 01:15 PM on June 22, 2009
Oh, darn -- someone yelled at Tiger Woods.
While I don't approve of it, it doesn't seem it affected Woods much, and these guys need to get a little thicker skin anyhow. Freaking out when a shutter snaps is a little much.
Lucas Glover FTW!
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:30 PM on June 22, 2009
Golfers are babies, but I'd still hate to see heckling become the norm at golf tournaments.
posted by rcade at 02:08 PM on June 22, 2009
Well, all I can really say is what's already being said: This isn't baseball, football, basketball or any other sport where heckling is more or less an artform. Golf, IMO is a sport that's for mature audiences that can appreciate the sport for what it is, a gentleman's game.
posted by BornIcon at 02:21 PM on June 22, 2009
Am I the last person to learn that other golfers call Phil Mickelson FIGJAM?
posted by rcade at 02:28 PM on June 22, 2009
Yeah, that's fairly old news, rcade. In fact, I think JJ brought this up hear ages ago (though I'm too lazy to dig through and find it).
posted by 86 at 03:23 PM on June 22, 2009
these guys need to get a little thicker skin anyhow. Freaking out when a shutter snaps is a little much.
How 'bout those gymnasts? They freak out at the drop of a satirical hat.
It should be legal to punch anyone who yells "Get in the hole!" especially immediately after a drive on a 500+ yard hole.
posted by yerfatma at 04:01 PM on June 22, 2009
It should be legal to punch anyone who yells "Get in the hole!"
Or euthanize them. Seriously. They obviously have nothing to give to society. Anyone that stupid needs to be put down.
posted by smithnyiu at 04:14 PM on June 22, 2009
I'm just digging that trooper's hat... that's some serious pimp brim angle.
posted by dusted at 04:36 PM on June 22, 2009
It's the price of popularity. Make honest-to-goodness sports celebrities out of golfers and you'll be letting in the hoi-polloi by the monster-truckload. I propose a meeting, halfway down the pedestal, between those for whom golf, like a country club membership, is a birthright (or something you just might be able to buy your way into), and the hordes of filthy beggars who just want something good to watch on TV, or who may just love the spectacle of a minority player sticking it to the establishment. Sure, it's a false promise; class barriers aren't made to be broken, and golf, despite its current pretense of egalitarianism, will forever be a bastion of exclusivity for most, and just another quick-rich barrel of conspicuous consumption for others. But perhaps you're right, if we went and euthanized all the poor dummies, I'm sure the rich smarties would build a perfect society where everyone could take place in the sacred game of golf, and we could all hold hands and shush the coughing old bird at the end of the bleachers; who let her kind in here anyway?
posted by Hugh Janus at 04:49 PM on June 22, 2009
I'm in the airport waiting for a flight back to the UK after a fabulous week at Bethpage. I had conspired with rcade to send daily reports to have them thrust on the front page, but frankly I was covered in mud and having far too much fun. Without exception, the rowdiness I witnessed was both hilarious and well received (or easily ignored) by the players. I've been to a lot of golf tournaments in many different capacities, but this was the best crowd ever. By a mile.
I have a couple of hours until my flight leaves and then 7 hours of transatlantic tedium to fill, so I'll try to throw something together by way of a column by tomorrow morning - although, my dad has just brought me a beer, so you'll have to excuse me if it gets rowdy.
posted by JJ at 06:07 PM on June 22, 2009
"Suck it up, you've got your own video game!"
Say what you will about rude, drunk hecklers, but that made me laugh.
posted by Drood at 06:43 PM on June 22, 2009
My favourites overheard on the course this week:
Tiger hits one way right from the 10th tee: "Tiger, if you do that again, I'm going home."
Duval walking down the last: "Come on Double-D, make a birdie and we'll buy you a snowcone!"
Two enormous frogs started getting romantic in the pond at 8: "Get a room!"
In the gallery behind 3 last night just before the hooter, someone shouted "Here comes, Phil!" and then started a chant of "Let's go, Lefty, let's go." The chant ended and someone else shouted: "Hey, asshole, that's not Mickelson, it's Weir." Which inspired the exact same chant all over again.
posted by JJ at 08:20 PM on June 22, 2009
Here's my novel thought - hecklers suck no matter where they are heckling.
posted by Joey Michaels at 09:58 PM on June 22, 2009
JJ, that sounds like an absolute blast. I hope you write that column!
posted by dusted at 10:51 PM on June 22, 2009
Joey: I disagree. You ask any standup comedian and they'll say they admire the clever ones. Yes shouting "you suck" is classless and stupid, but if a heckle is clever, that's a whole different ballgame and I've heard many standups say how great they thought a particular heckle was.
posted by Drood at 11:46 PM on June 22, 2009
I'm talking specifically in the context of sports.
We expect the players to ignore it and let it slide, so they're an easy target.
A stand-up worth his salt with a microphone has the ability to totally rip a heckler apart if he wants to.
Should a player in any sport react to the heckling, its going to be even worse.
Heckling an athlete is essentially a way of picking on a target who can't fight back. Its a kind of bullying and its classless.
posted by Joey Michaels at 05:08 AM on June 23, 2009
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:08 AM on June 23, 2009
Given that hecklers at a golf tournament (and anywhere else for that matter) are classless and stupid, but we can't forget who buys all the stuff from all the manufacturers who pay the outrageous fees to the golfers and the PGA. I'm not saying that because they spend the bucks that hecklers have the right to do what they do. I am saying that the golfers have to grin and bear it a little bit, and recognize the ills that come with the good fortune of being able to strike the ball well.
posted by Howard_T at 10:04 AM on June 23, 2009
People represent more than just the sum of their own actions. Heckling an athlete is payback for being stuffed in lockers after gym class. It's justice, meted out on a cosmic scale.
posted by Hugh Janus at 11:05 AM on June 23, 2009
I am saying that the golfers have to grin and bear it a little bit
They do that remarkably well, don't they? Is that even in question? When's the last time you heard of a player blowing up on some drunk asshole in the crowd? It amazes me how many want to tell the players to suck it up and play on, when that's exactly what they do, on every hole at every tournament.
posted by smithnyiu at 11:18 AM on June 23, 2009
It's never as funny as they think.
Wow. The edit after the fact thing is, well, better than nothing.
posted by geekyguy at 07:16 PM on June 23, 2009
Here's my novel thought - hecklers suck no matter where they are heckling.
This.
posted by rodgerd at 06:19 PM on June 24, 2009
David Duval is two strokes off the lead!