Thomas removes 'inappropriate' heckler at Honda Classic

Honda Classic champion Justin Thomas revealed he had to do some crowd control during his victory.

Published : Feb 26, 2018 07:42 IST

Justin Thomas had enough during his win at the Honda Classic on Sunday.

Though Thomas went on to win the tournament, defeating Luke List on the first sudden-death play-off hole, he had to do some crowd control on the par-four 16th hole when a fan continued to heckle him.

Thomas, after hitting his tee shot on the 16th, yelled at fan who had begged his ball into the bunker. The American said it was not the first time he heard the spectator say something.

"We were walking up on the tee and this guy, I don't know who he was talking to, but sounds like it was me. He said something like – he was like, 'I hope you hit it in the water, hit it in the water,' something like that. I just kind of like looked back there. Didn't say anything," Thomas recalled.

"Just, again, I feel like there's no place for that, and I hit it and my ball is in the air and it's not – it's in the middle of the fairway and he's yelling for it to get in the bunker. I was like, OK, I've had enough. So I just turned around and asked who it was, and he didn't want to say anything, now that I had actually acknowledged him. So he got to leave a couple holes early.

"I don't want to kick someone out just to kick them out. It's just so inappropriate. We're out here trying to win a golf tournament. I would have done it if he said it to Luke, just like Rory [McIlroy] did to the guy that said something to me at L.A.

"Just because you're standing behind the ropes doesn't mean that you can – I don't care how much I dislike somebody, I'm never going to wish that kind of stuff upon them. I felt it was inappropriate, so he had to go home."

The win was Thomas' seventh in his last 31 starts.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment