Rickie Fowler hits back as Leeds fan heckles golfer for not buying into club

It says it all that Rickie Fowler firing two out of bounds from the middle of the fairway on the 18th wasn’t the strangest thing to happen to him on Thursday.

That was instead getting called a ‘coward’ by an unruly punter as he walked off the 13th tee.

This wasn’t because Fowler had chosen a safe shot or some early Ryder Cup abuse for the American. No, it was because he didn’t invest in Leeds United with his golf pals Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.

The duo have bought up a secret amount of capital in the Yorkshire club as part of the 49ers takeover but Fowler didn’t fancy putting in and it got him some bizarre abuse at Hoylake on his way to carding a one over round.

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“Someone called me a coward,” he said.

“They were a Leeds fan. They were giving me a hard time for not investing in Leeds. I think he should put his own money behind it if he wants to call me a coward.

“It started with saying, ‘Why didn’t you go through with the investment in Leeds’ and I was just walking and he called me a coward and I turned around and he was laughing at me.

“Unfortunately you have to deal with that. There’s plenty of stuff in the States and I wouldn’t say our fans are any better but that is not really a position to call someone a coward for not investing in something.”

Should the fan be banned? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Californian’s caddie Ricky Romano gave some back to the fan in the crowd on the 13th. A Fowler fanatic later threatened to take retribution on the heckler.

There was more bizarreness to come for the rejuvenated American who arrived here nine years on from when he pushed Rory McIlroy all the way in the chase for the Claret Jug.

Victory at the recent Rocket Mortgage Classic was a first tournament success in four years.

The triumph came after a near-miss at the US Open, too. It looked like he was going to get off to a fine start here in his chase for a first major.

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Fowler, clutching his water bottle between shots, battled through a tough first nine to go out even. Then a fine birdie on 15 was followed up by a superb one on 17.

The drive down 18 was perfect but then the drama. From the middle of the fairway, a long iron shot went beyond the white stakes on the inner out of bounds.

The next one followed an identical path. He ended up with an eight.

“Do I like it right now? Probably not,” he said when asked about the out of bounds. “I think it’s part of links golf, the cool different things that make it special.”

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