American golf clubs are at a disadvantage these days. Between last year’s European Ryder Cup team and rooting hard against Wyndham Clark in this year’s Open, the big galleries spot the best of golf.
On Sunday at the Presidents’ Cup at Medinah Antipolis outside Chicago, Columbia’s Scottie Scheffler and Nico Echavarria were tied for their last meeting. Scheffler was 3-out of Echavarria with five holes to play … and Scheffler also happened to be ranked No. 1 in the world, with Echavarria 61st. This fight was not quite fair.
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That in the portico did not stop someone from sleeping in the fight. When Echavarria holed out on the 14th hole, someone shouted “Go Scottie!” in these backwings. Echavarria dropped the club, and Scheffler immediately barked at the defendant, saying, “This is no place for this.”
“It’s funny, who’s yelling on the tee swing,” Scheffler said after the match. “There’s absolutely no place for that. You’ll have 30 seconds to a minute when you’re on the ball, or right away your shot starts hitting where there’s silence, and it’s just frustrating.”
On the 14th green, after an outcry, Scheffler conceded Echavarria’s 32-foot par putt, a classy gesture that seemed as apologetic for his actions as anything else. Scheffler would go on to win 2&1, helping the United States try to come back from a historic deficit.
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“To be honest with you, I don’t really want to talk,” Scheffler said later. “I think there’s no place in our game. I think we’re going to leave it at that.”
Fair enough, and probably the right thing to do. That, and throwing idiots in the parking lot yelling at the lobby.