Angry pro smashes sprinkler at Valspar, absolute chaos ensues

It’s not often that a course punches back at a golfer who hurts it, but maybe Innisbrook’s Copperhead course is built a little different. 

As evidence, we present the Friday morning case of Adam Hadwin, who destroyed a sprinkler head in the process of making double bogey on the 10th hole. In a video shared with GOLF.com, Hadwin was playing his third shot into the green of the par-4 10th, from the rough right of the fairway. How he got in that position may explain why he plunged his wedge into the earth in the first place. 

Hadwin found the fairway off the tee and had just a mid-iron to the green. But for some reason that will remain unexplained for now, Hadwin’s initial approach was left very short and right. Was it a shank? Was it the result of a mud ball? Either way, he had 44 yards left with his third, took a swipe through the thick rough and was clearly very displeased. 

The sprinkler was just as unhappy, and facing the consequences of that decision, Hadwin had just one word to offer: 

“Sorry.” 

As water sprayed out with fury, 40 feet in each direction, Hadwin did what anyone would do and tried to make it stop. Pieces of the sprinkler head spewed out to the side. His caddie couldn’t help him because, well, there was nothing to be done other than kill the water flow to that specific sprinkler. According to online posts from fans on-site, the water even reached a few spectators nearby on what was a chilly Florida morning. 

The incident is merely the third (that we know of) moment of extreme anger boiling over at the Valspar this week. Thursday offered us Patton Kizzire punting his putter into the air after missing a putt. He later withdrew. Then there was Sahith Theegala’s tomahawk launch of an iron into the turf … after he had dropped it mid-swing. 

It’s unclear how long Hadwin’s sprinkler sprayed water up the right side of the 10th hole or how it may have impacted play. That third shot of his ended up in the greenside bunker, short, from which he played onto the green and two-putted for double. He would miss the cut by three shots.