Rickie Fowler faced challenges during his third round at the Players Championship on Saturday. This was partly due to a distracting incident near the 16th hole’s tee area at TPC Sawgrass.
Fowler paused his tee-off when he heard a noise from someone nearby. This prompted his caddie, Ricky Romano, to address the individual. Romano requested, “Sir, please hold the cameras… [I] need all the cameras on silent.”
The identity of the individual, whether a fan or a professional photographer at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, event, remained unclear.
After the interruption, Fowler, aged 35, resumed his position at the tee. Despite successfully driving the ball onto the fairway, his frustration was evident. He glanced in the direction of the disturbance, pointed, moved towards the crowd, and shouted, “You!”
Romano confronted the individual once more, expressing his frustration by saying, “Come on, I just said something.”
Fowler, who chose not to speak to the press post-round, experienced further setbacks. His subsequent shot landed in the water, leading to a double bogey on the hole.
His performance for the day concluded with a score of 76, four-over par, causing him to fall in the tournament rankings.