The Most Controversial Confrontations in Golf History

The Most Controversial Confrontations in Golf History

Two perfect shots. Michael got me in the water on one and over the green on the other. [Applause] They yelled, raged, and even walked off mid round. From golfers completely losing it on their caddies to heated arguments that exploded mid round. These are the most controversial confrontations in golf history. The United States was cruising with a commanding 9 to3 lead at Whistling Straits. Team Europe was desperate. Then John Romh stepped up to the tea on a critical par five. His front foot slipped and his drive rocketed into Lake Michigan. In match play, every shot matters. Rom’s mistake had just handed America a golden opportunity. All four players, Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spith, and Brooks Kupka agreed exactly where the ball crossed. Case closed until a course spotter insisted it had crossed 20 yards farther up. 20 yards on a par five is everything. That’s the difference between going for the green versus being out of the hole. And Jordan Spith wasn’t having it. That’s not where it crossed. Spe argued, pointing to the original spot. Adam Hayes, Rom’s caddy, immediately jumped in to defend his player. What started as a rules clarification exploded into a heated back and forth. Voices rose, fingers pointed. Reporter Jim Bones Mai described the exchange as animated and quite fired up. At one point, Spith could be heard saying, “I never raised my voice at all, buddy.” A clear signal. Hayes thought otherwise. The ruling went with the original spot. Rom took his drop farther back. The Americans won the hole and eventually the match. What should have been a routine drop became one of the week’s most charged moments. Proof that the RDER Cup’s biggest fireworks don’t always come from the golf itself. Next up, we’ve got a masterclass in trust. Lee Haoong is with us again and this time is standing over his ball on the 10th hole, staring down a shot that could make or break his round. Water guards the front of the green, and the margin for error is practically non-existent. This is the kind of moment where careers are defined, not by the shot itself, but by the conversation that happens before it. Lee is torn between a 4iron and something longer. His natural instinct is telling him one thing, but his caddy JD Debeir is seeing something completely different. The lie is tricky, sitting on an UPS slope that’s going to affect the ball flight significantly. Wind conditions are swirling. One wrong calculation and they’re looking at a watery grave for the golf ball. The debate starts heating up. Lee’s thinking four iron might be too much club, but Debeir has other ideas. He’s calculating the ups slope, the wind, the adrenaline factor, all the variables that separate tour professionals from weekend warriors. So my other argument is we’re on an ups slope here. So that’s turning into six iron anyways, isn’t it? Yes. Yeah. So that’s why that four iron could be five iron. Perfect. Perfect. Sometimes it’s that simple. Lee pulls the trigger with complete confidence, sending a high draw that lands softly on the green. You like that one? The result speaks for itself. coming in next. And trust me, you’ll never see this on a golf course again. Tiger Woods was in the zone. The 2002 Skins game at Landmark Golf Club, and every shot mattered. Woods stood over his ball in the greenside bunker on the 18th hole, visualizing the trajectory, reading the sand. Then, click, a camera shutter, loud, right during his back swing. Woods backed off, visibly irritated. Steve Williams, his fiercely loyal caddy, spun around immediately. He’d already asked the fan once to stop, then twice. Now the guy had clicked again at the worst possible moment. Williams walked directly toward the spectator. No hesitation. Give me the camera. The fan looked confused, clutching his $7,000 camera like it might protect him. Williams wasn’t asking anymore. He grabbed it, wrestled it from the man’s grip, and without breaking stride, walked straight to the edge of the pond surrounding the 18th green. He dropped it in. The camera hit the water with a splash. gone. The gallery stood in stunned silence. Security didn’t know whether to intervene or let it play out. Woods didn’t even turn around. He’d already gone back to preparing his shot, trusting Williams had handled it. Later, he defended his actions without apology. The fan had been warned. Silence during a player’s swing isn’t a suggestion. It’s sacred. And Steve Williams wasn’t about to let anyone disrespect Tiger Woods on his watch. The incident became legendary. Getting to the next one. It’s the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. Bubba Watson rips a 313 yd drive into the rough on the par 5 fifth and finds his ball on what looks like an antill. He calls over a rules official and a simple ruling turns into an on the spot biology lesson that had everyone cracking up. It’s a burning hill dug in the hole. So be the way you look at it. Watson’s logic is simple. Under rule 25-1, golfers get relief from holes made by burrowing animals. Ants dig holes. Therefore, ants must be burrowing animals. Case closed, right? Not so fast. The official says they’re not classified as burrowing animals. They’re just loose impediments. But Watson’s not backing down. He’s pushing the logic. It’s either an ant bed or an animal digging a hole. It can’t be neither. No. Okay. Is it? So, they’re tunnel making is what we’re calling them this week. Watson’s not done yet, though. So, if some guy was allergic to ants and he got an ant on him, you could care less. Unless unless Well, we’d care less, but it’s only if they’re dangerous ants. You know, like the biting the fire ant ones are the ones you get. Right. I got you. The conversation ends with Watson accepting the ruling, but not before giving golf fans one of the most entertaining rules discussions ever recorded. Which brings us to this. The relationship had been fraying for holes. Small comments, passive aggressive jabs, the kind of tension that builds when two people have spent too much time together and one bad shot could detonate everything. Robert Allen B was grinding through another frustrating round at the 2015 RBC Canadian Open. Nothing was working. Every miss felt personal. And Mick Middle, his longtime caddy, was right there for every agonizing moment. Then it happened. After yet another poor shot, Alan B snapped. The verbal abuse came fast and ugly. Middle Mo had dealt with plenty over the years, but this crossed a line. Words were exchanged, voices raised. The gallery fell silent, watching the implosion unfold in real time. Middle made his decision. He dropped the bag on the fairway and walked off. Mid round. Done. Alan stood there bagless with holes still to play. He looked around desperately and spotted someone in the crowd, a school principal named Tom Foley. Can you carry my bag? Foley said yes. The amateur stepped inside the ropes and became Alan B’s caddy for the rest of the round, navigating yardages and club selections he had no business knowing. The gallery was stunned. This wasn’t a caddy swap during a practice round. This was a complete meltdown broadcast to everyone watching. By the time Alan B signed his scorecard, the damage was permanent. The partnership was over and golf had witnessed one of its most uncomfortable public breakups. Next up is where stubbornness meets brilliance. 2018 Charles Schwab challenge at Colonial Country Club. Kevin Naw finds his ball in trouble behind a massive tree. And his longtime caddyy Kenny Harms is about to get schooled in the fine art of ignoring good advice. I think I can pull it off. That’s why. Harms isn’t buying it. He breaks down why this shot is risky. It’s going to get on the green. Yeah, but over the green is dead. Nas’s confident. Harms isn’t having it. This guy has been catting for over 30 years. Worked with Hall of Famers like Hail Irwin and Raymond Floyd. He knows what he’s talking about. This shot is madness. As long as you’re okay with this club. I’m not I’m not okay with either one of them. I’m I’m going with it. Nah. Pulls the hybrid and lets it rip. The ball goes exactly where harms predicted, way over the green, but it also ends up near a grandstand, meaning free relief from there. N chips in for one of the most improbable birdies you’ll ever see. Well, Kenny’s been working for me 10 years and um I always like to prove him wrong. Next up brings us the most relatable golf moment of the year so far. It happened in May 2025. First round of the memorial tournament. Jordan Spath’s T-shot on the par five fifth hole hits a tree and bounces backward into the thick rough. The grass is growing against him. The angle is terrible and he’s already two overpar through four holes. It’s 230 to fly the water. Growler’s suggesting a safer play. Hit it back to the fairway, take their medicine, try to make five. But speed’s spinning through every scenario. What if it doesn’t reach the fairway? Does he have to lay up again? Can he still make five? Michael Greller, his longtime caddy, is trying to be the voice of reason. Since you hit it here, hitting your third up on the front number. We’re trying to make a five. But speed’s deep in analysis paralysis and then he just reaches his breaking point. Let’s just hit it right here. Speed commits to the harder layup muscles it perfectly back to the fairway. Hits his approach to 25 ft and holds the putt for birdie. For this one, we’re heading to New York 11 12 to 4 1/2. Europe was crushing Team USA on their home soil and the Saturday fourball session at Beth Page Black was turning into a nightmare for America. Justin Rose stood over a 15oot birdie putt on the 15th hole. The veteran Englishman and Tommy Fleetwood were dismantling Bryson Desambo and Scotty Sheffller. One more point would twist the knife deeper, but there was a problem. Greg Bodin, Desambo’s caddy, was standing in Rose’s line. Rose looked up. Move out of the way. It wasn’t polite. The pressure stripped away courtesies. This was the Rider Cup. The putt dropped. Birdie. Deso responded immediately, draining his own 11-oot birdie to have the hole. And now everyone was fired up. What happened next turned the walk to the 16th T into a rolling confrontation. Desambo confronted Rose and Fleetwood. Voices raised. Then the Caddies got involved. Ted Scott, Sheffller’s bagman, went after Franchesco Molinari, Europe’s vice captain. Multiple fronts opened up simultaneously. Ian Finnis, Fleetwood’s caddy, stepped between Molinari and Scott, physically separating them. Calls of playon echoed. By the 16th T, the fire had been dampened. Rose and Fleetwood closed out the match three and two. Handshakes were exchanged, professional, cordial, utterly hollow. Rose defended himself afterward. I’m trying to protect my environment in a big moment. He admitted he wasn’t as polite as he could have been, but denied disrespect. Ted Scott issued a public apology to Molinary. US Captain Keegan Bradley shrugged. Things happened. Up next, the final round at Royal Portrush was slipping away. Sergio Garcia had already endured three frustrating days, and Sunday was turning into another grind. Every shot felt heavy. Every miss compounded the last. On the fifth hole, Garcia stepped up to the tea. He needed something good. Anything. The drive was terrible. A pull slicing away from the fairway into trouble again. Garcia’s jaw clenched. His shoulders dropped. The anger that had been simmering all week finally boiled over. Without looking back, he flicked his driver over his shoulder directly toward his caddy. The club tumbled through the air. Victor Garcia, Sergio’s own brother, stood frozen as the driver landed near his feet. The gallery gasped audibly. Phones came out, eyes widened. Sergio walked off the tea without a word. No apology, no acknowledgement, just silence. Victor picked up the driver and followed, professional as ever. But the damage was done. The moment had been captured. The video would go viral within hours. 20 seconds of pure frustration that encapsulated everything wrong with Garcia’s week. This wasn’t a caddy Garcia could fire. This was family. And somehow that made it worse. They walked the rest of the hole in awkward quiet. The tension hanging between them like fog over the Irish coast. Which takes us to the next. See, for years, golf fans had a front row seat to one of the sports most bitter feuds. Brooks Kepka and Bryson Desambo couldn’t stand each other. It started with slowplay comments in 2019, escalated through social media wars, and reached peak toxicity with that infamous eye roll moment at the 2021 PGA Championship. You remember it? Brooks was doing a routine interview when Desambo walked past in the background. The sound of metal spikes on concrete was all it took. Kepka’s eyes rolled so hard they nearly fell out of his head. The feud had everything. Fans started calling Desambo Brooksie at tournaments, getting kicked out for heckling while Brooks offered free beers to anyone who supported the trolling. Maybe because of all that, I don’t have a logical explanation for this video. Finally, after him kicking my ass, you know. They’re laughing about their past battles. Brooks admits it wasn’t much of a match. No, it’s good. It’s good to team up. And they’d actually talked about partnering back at the 2021 Ryder Cup. So, it’s good to be able to team up and uh see what we can do. Wait, what? These two are laughing together, joking about their past battles, actually excited to be partners. Well, you know what they say. There’s a fine line between love and hate. Our countdown reaches the next and this one proves that golf isn’t always a gentleman’s game. 2015 at the WGC Cadillac match play. Keegan Bradley and Miguel Anel Jimenez are playing in a meaningless final group match. Both players already eliminated from advancing to the weekend. This should have been a relaxed finish to their week. It should be. The tension had been building since the 13th hole where Jimenez questioned a drop Bradley received. The delay caused by that ruling seemed to stick with the veteran Spaniard. Now standing on the 18th TE with Jimenez leading one up, Bradley pulls his drive near a temporary fence structure entitling him to relief. Here’s where it gets complicated. Bradley takes his drop, but the ball lands on a cart path, meaning he gets another drop. Simple enough when you have a rules official right there to guide the process, but Jimenez decides to walk 40 yards back from his own ball to offer his interpretation of the rules. Bradley’s caddy Steve Pepsi Hail didn’t appreciate the unsolicited advice. Then Jimenez crossed the line. He told Pepsi to shut up in quotations and then Keegan got heated to Miguel Anchel Jimenez by saying, “Hey, don’t talk to my man that way.” Two professional golfers going nose tonose. Voices raised with Bradley repeatedly telling Jimenez to get back to his ball while defending his caddy’s honor. After it was over and Jimenez had won the match two up, both players tried to explain themselves. Jimenez claimed he was just trying to help. Bradley admitted it was a heat of the moment thing, but maintained he had to stick up for his caddy. This next one shows us what happens when emotions explode. It’s late at night in Rome at the 2023 Ryder Cup. Cameras catch Rory Mroy in the car park, red-faced and raging, pointing and shouting at Jim Bones Mai, Justin Thomas’ Caddy. Shane Lowry has to physically drag him toward a courtesy car as Mroy keeps yelling, completely losing his composure on one of golf’s biggest stages. So, what lit the fuse? Earlier that day, team Europe was cruising up 10.5 to 5.5 heading into the final day when a bizarre subplot took over the crowd. Patrick Kentlay hadn’t worn his Team USA cap all week, sparking rumors he was protesting not getting paid to compete. European fans pounced, waving hats at him and chanting, “Where’s your hat, Patty?” at every hole. The teasing turned to tension. Kantlay and Windam Clark were down one to Mroy and Matt Fitzpatrick with two holes to play until Kentlay birded both to snatch the win. His caddy Joe Lava then waved his hat toward the crowd. While standing right in Mroyy’s line as he prepared a putt to tie, Mroy asked him to move. Lava stepped back, then came right back and kept waving. The handshake line was icy. The air was toxic. And 30 minutes later, in that parking lot, it all boiled over. Coming in next to the moment that showed us championship pressure at its absolute peak, September 2021. Brooks Kepka and Daniel Burgerer are locked in battle with John Rom and Sergio Garcia on the 15th hole. Burger’s drive finds the fescue near a bunker, leaving Brooks with a difficult shot from thick grass. But it’s not just the lie that concerns him. There’s a drainage area directly in his swing path. For most players, this might be a minor inconvenience. For Brooks, it’s potentially careerthreatening. Just weeks earlier at the Tour Championship, he’d injured his left wrist when his club struck a hidden tree route during his follow-through. The injury forced him to withdraw and spent precious weeks rehabbing just to make the RDER Cup team. Brooks calls over rules official David Price making his case for relief. I cannot see you getting as far as that through to get to get to. You realize it’s on a down slope, right? I do. Yeah, I can see that. And I got to chop down with the lie. Price remains unmoved. Frustrated, Brooks calls for a second opinion from Mark Littton of the European Tour. After nearly 10 minutes of debate, the verdict is the same. No relief. Sorry, Brooks. Thank when four-time major champion Brooks Kepka, representing his country at the Ryder Cup, loses his composure entirely. I’ll tell you what, my wrist. Brooks then hit an amazing shot onto the green to save the hole. For now, we find ourselves at the 2013 US Women’s Open. The pressure was through the roof as the world’s top female golfers fought for one of the biggest titles in the sport. Jessica Corda was grinding through a brutal round. Every golfer knows the frustration of a tough day on the course, but what happened next? Nobody, literally nobody saw this coming. Corda and her caddyy Jason Gilroy were clearly not on the same page. The back and forth between them grew sharper, her frustration bubbling over with every missed shot. And then right in the middle of the round, boom, she snapped. She fired her caddy. Not later in the clubhouse, not even at the turn, mid round with holes still left to play. Wait, what? Had this seriously just happened? One second, Gilroy was guiding her through the US Open and the next he was out of a job on the spot. But the story doesn’t end there. Corda still had a tournament to finish. So she turned to the gallery, locked eyes with her boyfriend, Johnny Delprit, and said something no one expected. You’re up. Luckily, Delprida was a pro golfer himself. So he handled it like a champ. Picking up the bag and carrying on like this kind of thing happened all the time. It absolutely doesn’t. The whole scene was so unexpected, it instantly became one of the most unforgettable moments in women’s golf. And now we have one of the strangest situations golf has ever seen, Michelle Wi’s early career caddy carousel. Let’s say that you’re Greg Johnston, a veteran caddy with an incredible resume. You’ve won four majors with Julie Ingster. You’ve just helped Michelle Wi tie for 26th at the British Open. Not her best, but solid. You’re at Manchester airport, probably grabbing a coffee, thinking about your next tournament together, and then your phone rings. The voice on the other end, not Michelle, not her parents. It’s her agent. And the news, you’re fired just like that. It sounds like something out of a reality TV show, right? But this actually happened. Johnston, a caddy who helped Michelle secure seven top five finishes in eight LPGA events, was let go like he was an extra on a set. No explanation, no goodbyes, just a call at the airport. And here’s the kicker. This wasn’t an isolated incident. Michelle was going through caddies faster than most people go through playlists. The turnover got so wild, it became a running joke in golf circles. People started asking, “What’s going on here? Was the pressure of her skyrocketing career too much? Were the expectations set too high for her caddies? Or was it something else entirely?” Nobody ever really got the full story, but one thing’s for sure. If you were a caddy for Michelle Wi back then, you probably didn’t bother unpacking your suitcase. Next up, and here we’ve got an absolute wild one from Down Under, the 2019 President’s Cup in Melbourne. This one is about a caddy who decided enough was enough. And man, did things get ugly. Let me set the scene for you. Patrick Reed, golf’s bad boy, nicknamed Captain America, shows up in Australia already in hot water. Just a week before, he’d been caught doing some uh creative landscaping in a bunker at the Hero World Challenge. You know, the kind of improving your lie that makes golf purists lose their minds. The Aussie fans, oh, they were ready for him. From the moment Reed stepped onto Royal Melbourne, the crowd was all over him. Constant heckling, creative chance, the works, every hole, every shot. It was cheater this and Sandman that. Reed and Webb Simpson had just lost their morning match. Reed’s third loss of the week, by the way. His caddy, Kesler Karine, who also happens to be his brother-in-law, had been watching his guy take heat for three straight days. And that’s when the pressure cooker finally exploded. A fan says something. We still don’t know exactly what. And Karine just snaps. He jumps off his cart, charges at the fan, and shoves him. Yes, you heard that right. a caddy shoving a fan. Chaos erupts as security has to jump in and everything. But the worst part, they banned Karine from carrying the bag for Sunday’s singles matches. Literally unprecedented in President’s Cup history. Poor Reed had to have his swing coach step in as an emergency caddy.

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The Most Controversial Confrontations in Golf History

Watch next –
[Video]

00:00 Fiery
01:52 You liked that one?
02:59 Gone
04:23 Animals
05:21 Fired
06:49 Disagree
07:40 Caddie fury
08:35 Heat
10:14 Caddie not safe
11:34 Hot mic
12:45 Trouble in Paradise
14:10 Heated
15:28 Snap
16:36 Fired 2
17:58 Carousel
19:26 Disqualified

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