Rory McIlroy spoke to reporters on Wednesday ahead of the 2023 Tour Championship.
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Rory McIlroy sat down for an extensive pre-tournament press conference at the 2023 Tour Championship Wednesday and gave his opinion on golf’s hottest topics.
From LIV Ryder Cup drama to Scottie Scheffler’s ‘incredible’ season (that Dylan Dethier from GOLF broke down here), Rory didn’t hesitate to answer any questions.
That includes a question about one of the thorniest issues facing the future of professional golf: the intersection of golf gambling and hecklers at professional events.
‘It happens more often than you think’: Why bad fan behavior could be golf’s next big problem
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Players have been sounding the alarm all year about spectators influencing on-course action for gaming purposes, but one high-profile incident involving Max Homa last weekend at the BMW Championship reignited the discussion. Homa and his playing partner Chris Kirk were harassed by a fan yelling at them for missing putts, possibly related to bets he had made.
“I like that people can play golf,” Homa said at BMW. “But that’s the only thing that worries me.”
This specific issue – the potential influence of fans on the running of tournaments – is also a focus for McIlroy.
“We’ve been talking about this at the board and PAC level for a few years. And it’s a bit of a slippery slope because I don’t think there’s any – maybe basketball and you can sit courtside, but I think it’s a different environment where people can really influence the game here,” McIlroy said Wednesday.
The four-time major champion identified determining effective enforcement procedures as the key to preventing the problem from getting worse.
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“So, look, as long as it’s monitored in the right way and as long as measures are put in place so that things like what happened to Max Homa last Saturday don’t happen,” McIlroy continued. “We all want people here to have a good time and be able to put something into an outcome, but until they feel like they can come here and influence that outcome, I think it’s important.”
Jon Rahm, reigning Masters champion shared similar concerns this week.
“I think maybe the Tour should look into it because you don’t want it to get out of hand,” Rahm said. “In golf, it’s very easy, very, very easy, if you want to influence someone. You are so close that you can scream at the wrong time, and this is very easy to happen.
“I feel like we hear it at every turn,” Rahm added. “It happens more often than you realize. I mean, it’s very, very present. In golf, the spectators are very close, and even if they don’t speak to you directly, they are close enough that if they say to their friend: “I bet you 10 dollars, he will miss this”, you will hear. . So this happens more often than you think.
As for what fans can do to address this issue, McIlroy concluded his comments on the subject with some simple advice to spectators attending events.
“If I was here as a fan, I just want to go out and try to watch the best players in the world and have a good time doing it.”
