15 Golf Scandals They NEVER Wanted You to Know

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15 Golf Scandals They NEVER Wanted You to Know

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00:00 Daly Heat
01:38 Faker
02:53 Too spicy
04:24 Trump
06:16 DJ
07:43 Fired
08:55 Dress code
10:09 Disqualified
11:36 Phil Mickelson
13:19 Reed
15:04 Bully Scandal
16:25 Chicken
17:36 Creepy
18:56 Cheating
20:30 Cheating 2.0

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from explosive oncourse clashes that destroyed careers to women getting banned for showing too much skin these are 15 golf scandals they never wanted you to hear about And first we start with number 15 Most golf scandals involve a bad ruling or maybe a broken club But this one it ended with fists flying on the course In 1994 John Daly golf’s bad boy and walking powder keg found himself in one of the wildest moments the PGA Tour had ever seen And it didn’t come during a playoff It came during a fight with another player’s dad Yeah you heard that right It all went down at the World Series of Golf at Firestone Daly was having a rough round No surprise there But then out of nowhere he gets into a shouting match with the father of fellow pro Jeff Roth Words were exchanged tension boiled and then Daly did what no one expected He threw a punch Reports say Daly actually struck Roth’s dad during the altercation on a golf course in front of players caddies and stunned officials The fallout massive Daly pulled out of the tournament then announced he was stepping away from the PGA Tour for the rest of the season The tour tried to frame it as a mutual decision to address his mental and physical issues but the headlines told a different story He lost $3.4 million in sponsorships almost overnight Major deals with Wilson and Reebok vanished in a flash as brands scrambled to distance themselves from the chaos His reputation already hanging by a thread now fully on fire And just like that golf’s most unpredictable star went from tea time to TMZ in a matter of minutes coming in at number 14 On paper it looked like a feel-good Olympic story But behind the silver medal was a scandal that had golf fans raising more than a few eyebrows Rory Sabatini born and raised in South Africa wasn’t supposed to be in the 2020 Olympics His world ranking wasn’t high enough to make his country’s team But then something strange happened Out of nowhere Sabatini became a citizen of Slovakia No prior connection no family roots just a fasttrack passport and a surprise announcement He’d be representing Slovakia in Tokyo The reason officially he said it was to support his wife who happened to be Slovak and help grow the game there But fans weren’t buying it because by switching nationalities Sabatini had found a loophole He couldn’t make the South African team But Slovakia had no other top golfers And just like that a new Olympic slot opened Golf Twitter lit up Commentators debated whether this was strategic brilliance or a total mockery of the Olympic spirit Even the phrase fake citizenship started making the rounds And then the twist Sabatini didn’t just qualify he won silver One of the most controversial nationality switches in Olympic history ended with a podium finish Here we are with number 13 Because in 2004 Natalie Gulbas didn’t just stir up controversy She launched a full-blown image war against the LPGA And she did it without even swinging a club This wasn’t a rules violation This wasn’t an oncourse meltdown This was something way more explosive Sex appeal So what did she do well she released a swimsuit photo shoot Not for a brand not for a magazine It was her own creation Bikinis golf clubs and a confident smile that had the traditionalists in full panic mode The LPGA reportedly tried to block the calendar from being sold at tournaments Sponsors grew uncomfortable Critics labeled her a distraction And suddenly Natalie wasn’t being talked about for her swing or her scores but for her skin But Gulbas didn’t blink In fact she doubled down Reality TV Maxine magazine covers interviews that sent traditionalists into meltdown mode you name it And through it all she kept doing one thing refusing to apologize Some fans loved it Finally Women’s Golf had a crossover star but others they said she was cheapening the game That it was no longer about birdies it was about bikinis What made it so scandalous wasn’t just the photos it was the civil war they triggered inside the sport and the LPGA’s response Instead of standing behind their rising star they tried to pretend she didn’t exist Until of course the spotlight got too bright to ignore Up next number 12 This is one of those golf scandals that makes you stop and ask “No way Did that really happen?” And by the end you’re not even surprised Because deep down you know there’s only one person it could be In 2025 78-year-old Donald Trump declared himself the champion of yet another club championship This time at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach He called it Probably my last thanked the staff praised the fantastic golfers and posted the win like it was just another routine round But the internet wasn’t buying it Within hours sports writer Rick Riley author of Commander and Cheat torched the announcement with a brutal post on X Congrats to you the caddies who kick your ball out of the rough the spineless pro who doesn’t want to get fired and the 100s of feet of gimmies you give yourself Bravo And if that sounds personal it’s because it is Riley’s been documenting Trump’s golf habits for years Mulligans mysterious ball placements miracle finds in water hazards and wins in tournaments he never actually played He once summed it up like this To say Donald Trump cheats is like saying Michael Phelps swims And just when you think the stories couldn’t get any more ridiculous enter the Trico incident In a round with sports cer Mike Trico NFL coach John Gruden and analyst Ron Jaworski Tico hit what his caddy called the shot of the day A near perfect approach to the green but when they got there the ball was gone Turns out it wasn’t just a bad bounce After the round Trump’s own caddy reportedly confessed “Trump threw your ball in the bunker I watched him do it.” That’s not gamesmanship That’s straight up sabotage Because when it comes to golf’s most notorious rule breaker Trump isn’t just bending the game he’s rewriting it to suit himself For number 11 we go back to 2014 when one of the most powerful drivers in golf suddenly disappeared from the game And the PGA Tour hoped no one would ask too many questions Dustin Johnson was at the top of his game young talented and unstoppable off the tea But then out of nowhere he released a vague statement He was taking a leave of absence to deal with personal challenges No details no timeline just silence But behind the scenes the rumors were deafening Golf.com dropped the bombshell Johnson had allegedly failed a drug test for cocaine and not for the first time The report claimed this was his third failed test following a marijuana bust in 2009 and another cocaine test in 2012 The PGA Tour’s response they said it was voluntary that he wasn’t suspended And then they went quiet no clarification no denial just a carefully worded statement and a giant hole in the truth Johnson later denied everything Said he never failed a drug test said the real issue was drinking not drugs But by then the story had already taken on a life of its own Because if it wasn’t a suspension why did the PGA Tour bury it like one fans were left to fill in the blanks and to this day the 2014 Break remains one of golf’s biggest open secrets A scandal wrapped in spin buried under a press release and never fully explained Next number 10 With probably the fastest escalating golf scandal you’ve ever heard it only took one tweet to bring down the most powerful man in American golf In 2014 Ted Bishop was sitting at the top as president of the PGA of America He wasn’t just overseeing tournaments He was shaping the future of the sport Then he hit send It started as a petty jab at Ian Palter who had criticized RDER Cup legends Nick Faldo and Tom Watson Bishop clearly annoyed fired off a tweet calling Palter a little girl meant as an insult But what followed wasn’t just backlash It was a reckoning The PGA of America moved fast Within 24 hours Bishop was out fired title stripped legacy torched The organization labeled his comments insensitive and sexist and made it clear this wasn’t just a bad take It was a violation of everything they claimed to stand for Bishop apologized saying he meant no harm But by then the damage was done Sponsors cringed members revolted and fans were left wondering how the face of professional golf’s leadership could fumble the bag so badly in 140 characters Now number nine she was barely out of high school And already being dragged into one of the most bizarre scandals the LPGA had ever seen Michelle Wi West wasn’t just a golf prodigy She was supposed to be the future of the sport A teenager bombing drives past grown men playing in PGA Tour events and holding her own But as her star rose the conversation around her game quickly got hijacked It started with sleeveless tops Then came the short skirts And suddenly golf purists weren’t debating her swing mechanics No they were accusing her of disrespecting the game Commentators said she was too sexy for the sport Critics claimed she was turning the LPGA into a runway One critic even suggested she looked more ready for a nightclub than a golf course And behind closed doors some tournament officials even pushed for stricter dress codes just because of her Some said she was using her looks for attention Others saw a double standard Because when a male golfer shows up in flashy outfits or rocks a bold attitude he’s a personality When Michelle did it suddenly it was a scandal In the end the real scandal wasn’t what Michelle wore It was how threatened the sport seemed to be by a confident young woman daring to wear it her way Coming in at number eight most golf scandals involve tempers words or wild offc course behavior But this one it came down to a tiny spike mark and a move caught on camera It’s October 2013 The BMW Masters in Shanghai Simon Dyson lines up his putt but then something strange happens He casually uses his ball to press something down on the green right in his putting line At first nobody notices No rules officials no players nothing But later that day the phone started ringing because sharp-eyed viewers watching the broadcast saw exactly what he did and reported it Dyson had broken one of golf’s clearest rules at the time You do not touch the line of your putt to fix imperfections especially not like that He was assessed a two-stroke penalty But here’s where the scandal exploded Dyson didn’t include the penalty on his scorecard And just like that he was disqualified for signing an incorrect card But it didn’t stop there The European tour launched a full disciplinary investigation A hearing was called and the final verdict Dyson’s actions were a serious breach of the tour’s code of conduct They fined him £30,000 slapped him with a suspended two-month ban and made it clear this wasn’t just sloppy play This bordered on cheating The tour called it a momentary aberration but to fans it looked like a deliberate move a quiet rules violation caught only because someone was watching from home Here we are at number seven And this wasn’t just a scandal It was the moment golf’s golden boy got dragged into the kind of headlines you’d expect from Wall Street not the PGA Tour Phil Mickelson five-time major winner fan favorite smiling thumbs up lefty But in 2012 that perfect image cracked wide open And what came spilling out a financial scandal that had the FBI and SEC circling like vultures It all started with a suspicious stock trade Phil dumped $2.4 million into shares of Dean Foods just days before the company announced major corporate news that sent the stock soaring 41% The timing too perfect The profit $1.3 million overnight Insider trading That’s what the authorities suspected And the man at the center of it all a known gambler and Phil’s close friend Billy Walters Walters was eventually convicted but when it came time to testify Phil backed away didn’t appear didn’t speak and that silence it cost him Walters publicly slammed Mickelson saying he walked away and left me in jail But the rabbit hole went even deeper Court documents later revealed that Mickelson had wagered over a billion dollars in bets across three decades with nearly $100 million in losses He once reportedly placed $3,000 bets in a single year including a $400,000 gamble on the US RDER Cup team That lost The PGA Tour stayed quiet Phil paid back the $1.3 million and avoided formal charges by cutting a deal as a relief defendant but the stain didn’t fade And just like that they wrapped it in legal tape buried the headlines and let golf’s golden boy walk away clean Next number six At this point it’s basically a guarantee If Patrick Reed is anywhere near the leaderboard drama isn’t far behind Because while most players compete within the rules Reed has a habit of playing around them Let’s start with the moment that blew the lid off Hero World Challenge 2019 Reed takes a couple of practice swings in a waist bunker and cameras clearly show him brushing sand away from behind the ball That’s a textbook case of improving your lie He gets slapped with a two-stroke penalty But when asked about it Reed shrugs it off claiming the camera angle was misleading The golf world wasn’t buying it Analysts fans even fellow pros called it out loudly And behind closed doors even his President’s Cup teammates were reportedly rolling their eyes But that was just act one Fast forward to 2023 Farmer’s insurance open Reed launches a drive into a group of palm trees Multiple trees The balls lost but he insists he saw it go into one specific tree The only one that would give him a free drop Officials take his word for it but fans watching at home not even close to convinced Social media lit up with frame by frame breakdowns Wrong tree became the punchline of the week but the call stood Then there’s the infamous embedded ball debacle at Tory Pines in 2021 Reed hits a shot into the rough walks up checks his lie and picks the ball up before a rules official arrives He claims it was embedded but replays show the ball bounced once before it landed Something that almost never results in an embedded lie The official sided with him The internet did not And at this point Patrick Reed isn’t just involved in golf scandals He is the walking golf scandal You’ve made it to the top five on our list of the biggest golf scandals So golf has always had its gatekeepers But when Paige Spirinac stepped onto the professional stage they came at her with torches She wasn’t just a promising player from San Diego State where she’d helped lead her team to a conference title She was also one of the most followed female athletes on social media And that combination it sparked a scandal the sport wasn’t ready for In 2015 Spirinac received a sponsor’s invite to the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters a massive opportunity But almost immediately the golf world turned on her Critics claimed she hadn’t earned her spot through performance But through Instagram followers and photooots and then the rumor started Online whispers quickly turned vicious Accusations spread that she had performed sexual favors to land the invite Claims completely false but loud enough to follow her everywhere she went Paige later described it as the worst moment of my life And the cruelty didn’t end on the internet Fellow competitors iced her out refusing to warm up near her practice with her or even acknowledge her presence She wasn’t just bullied She was exiled It got so bad Paige admitted she considered walking away from the game completely not because of missed cuts but because of the shame and abuse tied to simply being herself in a sport that clearly wasn’t ready for someone like her Now number four It was supposed to be the greatest moment in golf history A young phenom just 21 years old shattering records at Augusta National and changing the sport forever But just days after Tiger Woods’s historic 1997 Masters win a jaw-dropping scandal hit the headlines and it came from inside the locker room Coming in Fuzzy Zeller Two-time major winner former Masters champion and the man who in less than 30 seconds turned a celebration of progress into a reminder of golf’s ugliest past When asked about Tiger’s upcoming role as host of the Next Champions Dinner Fuzzy gave his response with a smile Tell him not to serve fried chicken next year Got it or collarded greens or whatever the hell they serve the room went quiet The cameras kept rolling and within hours the backlash exploded The comments weren’t just offensive They were soaked in decades old racial stereotypes Fans were stunned Sponsors fled Fuzzy issued an apology claiming it was all a joke But no one was laughing because this wasn’t just a bad take It was a public unmasking One that exposed the quiet racism still lurking behind Golf’s country club doors Sliding in at number three Golf has seen its fair share of scandals but few were as uncomfortable unnecessary and downright creepy as this one When Rudy Giuliani former New York City mayor decided to tell a story about Michelle Wii on a podcast he probably didn’t expect the firestorm that followed He was playing a round of golf with Rush Limbbo and Michelle Wi and the paparazzi were all over them Limbaugh blamed Giuliani for attracting the attention but Giuliani quickly pointed out that they weren’t there for him or Limbbo They were there for someone else “Michelle Wii is on the green getting ready to putt,” Giuliani said Now Michelle Wi is gorgeous She’s 6 feet tall and she has this strange putting stance where she bends all the way over and her panties show The press was going crazy trying to take pictures of her panties Then Giuliani laughing added “I said “Rush it’s not me It’s not you It’s her panties.” He awkwardly ended the story by asking “Is it okay to tell that joke?” Well no it wasn’t And the fallout came fast Michelle fired back on social media calling the comments highly inappropriate She didn’t name Giuliani directly but the message was clear Enough was enough The whole incident highlighted just how often female athletes face scrutiny and inappropriate remarks that have nothing to do with their skills Next number two It was the scandal that shook the foundation of women’s golf and nearly tore the LPGA apart from the inside In 1972 Jane Bllelock wasn’t just a rising star She was the model of consistency rookie of the year multiple titles and a record- setting streak of 299 straight cuts made But all of that came crashing down over a single accusation At the Bluegrass Invitational Bllelock was accused of improperly marking her ball on the green and failing to take a required two-stroke penalty The LPGA didn’t just disqualify her They suspended her for an entire year No formal hearing no independent review just a panel of fellow players deciding she was guilty Bllelock denied everything But this wasn’t just about strokes or scorecards anymore This was war She hit back hard with a $5 million antitrust lawsuit accusing the LPGA of orchestrating a group boycott to destroy her career And the courtroom drama that followed explosive In 1973 a federal judge ruled in Bllelock’s favor calling the LPGA suspension ill-founded and slamming the organization for policing its own members without proper oversight The decision forced the LPGA to overhaul its structure entirely including hiring its first ever commissioner Bllelock kept winning but the scandal never left her shadow Despite 27 career victories more than enough for Hall of Fame status she’s still not inducted To this day many believe it’s the LPGA’s silent punishment for taking them to court and winning And finally number one this wasn’t just a scandal It was the nuclear meltdown that blew up the image of golf’s most untouchable icon Thanksgiving night 2009 Tiger Woods the face of golf the man who never cracked was about to watch his entire world burn starting right outside his own driveway Just one day earlier the National Enquirer dropped a bombshell Tiger was allegedly having an affair with New York nightclub manager Rachel Yucatel Tiger denied it but his wife Elen Nordigrren wasn’t buying the story That night while the rest of America carved turkey Elen was carving through Tiger’s phone She found everything Not just proof of the Ukatel affair but messages from another woman Jaime Grubs So what happened next pure chaos Reports say Alan snapped grabbed a golf club and went after him Tiger dazed on ambient and vicodin tried to escape in his black escalade but just moments after speeding out of the driveway He lost control The SUV slammed into a fire hydrant then skidded into a tree just a few yards away Neighbors rushed outside Sirens blared And there in the flashing lights Elen was seen pulling Tiger from the wreckage And just like that Tiger Woods’s secrets were no longer secret Within days the headlines exploded 14 women came forward with stories Sponsors vanished Gatorade Accenture AT&T all gone Only Nike stuck around The public watched in disbelief as golf squeaky clean legend unraveled before their eyes transforming overnight from a global sports hero into the centerpiece of a media circus Oh and now you’re still here We have another great video for you right in the middle of the screen Enjoy