He heckled Rory McIlroy. Now this college star is facing consequences

The Players Championship isn’t the only game in town this week in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. 

For the last 25 years, Sawgrass Country Club, which sits across the street from the iconic Stadium Course, has played host to The Hayt Collegiate Tournament, a 54-hole stroke-play event that attracts many of the best NCAA Div. I teams and which concludes on Monday of Players week. An opening act before the main event. 

In this year’s edition, the University of Texas men’s team, which is ranked fourth in the nation, trailed Alabama by a dozen shots heading into the final round. But the Longhorns would not roll over. On Monday, four of their five players shot even par or better to power Texas to a come-from-behind victory. Leading the charge in the Longhorns’ seven-shot win was 20-year-old junior Luke Potter, who carded a three-under 69 to claim the individual title.

Though the win marked Potter’s first NCAA triumph, he didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. In 2019, as a freshman at La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, Calif., Potter became the first high school golfer since Tiger Woods to be named California Freshman Athlete of the Year. A year later, at 16, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Southern California Golf Association Amateur. In 2021, he advanced to the U.S. Junior Amateur semifinals and the Western Amateur quarters. 

Potter’s exceptional pedigree landed him on the golf team at Arizona State, where he played for two years before transferring to Texas last fall. “I just wasn’t getting the most out of my game,” Potter said in explaining his move to the Daily Texan. “It was mostly my fault just because when you get to college, everyone is Mr. Golf in their respective states, and I just kind of leveled off.”    

But on Monday, Potter soared above the competition, making three birdies and an eagle to win the individual title by three and become the only player to finish the week double digits under par. 

That evening, the team celebrated their victory at Sawgrass CC’s airy beach club, which overlooks the Atlantic. In attendance to offer his congratulations was a University of Texas legend: four-time major winner Jordan Spieth, who is in the field at the Players Championship this week. On Tuesday, the good times continued when the team roamed the grounds at the Stadium Course, observing the best players in the world as they prepped for one of the season’s biggest events. The squad walked with and picked the brain of another Longhorn great, Scottie Scheffler, and said hello to some other acclaimed alums, including Jhonattan Vegas and Beau Hossler. The team also spotted another former Longhorn, Doug Ghim, grinding on the back of the range. Hook ‘em vibes were strong.  

“Texas golf is 98 years old,” John Fields, the Texas men’s coach of nearly three decades, told me in a phone interview Wednesday evening. “It has 106 victories on the PGA Tour. It has 10 major championships with six major champions. This is a proud program, and it hurts my heart that this would have happened, but I’m a coach and I know that 18-, 22-year-olds make mistakes from time to time. That’s what happened yesterday.”

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YOU MIGHT HAVE ALREADY HEARD or seen what happened. That’s the thing about this era of social media and cameras in every pocket: virtually everything goes public. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Potter and one of his teammates had broken off from the pack and stationed themselves behind the 18th tee box, where they were watching Rory McIlroy hit his drive. This is the same hole where a year ago at the Players, McIlroy — playing his ninth hole of the day in the first round — tugged a tee shot into the lake that lines the left side of the fairway. The water ball led to a lengthy and spirited discussion among McIlroy and his playing partners, Spieth and Viktor Hovland, about where McIlroy’s ball had crossed into the penalty area. (Later that afternoon, McIlroy pulled another tee shot into the water, at the par-4 7th, which again led to scrutiny from Spieth and Hovland about whether McIlroy had taken an appropriate drop.)   

And in McIlroy’s Tuesday practice round with Potter looking on from behind and just to the left of the 18th tee box? Yep, splash again. Another rinsed tee ball. 

The story could have easily ended here, which wouldn’t make it much of a story, but it didn’t. After the fate of McIlroy’s drive became evident, Potter took a dig at McIlroy, loudly enough for the world’s second-ranked golfer to hear him. The heckle included a reference to the 2011 Masters, where McIlroy, who was the 54-hole leader, famously triple-bogeyed the 10th hole in the final round en route to a devastating 80 that has haunted him ever since.

It is not unheard of for pro golfers to hear unpleasantries from fans. Usually, they let it go (you never would have seen Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus or Tom Watson confront a spectator). But not always (Greg Norman had his moments). And on this occasion, McIlroy chose to engage. He strode toward Potter and his teammate, extended his arm across the rope line and said to Potter’s teammate, “Can I see your phone?” Translation: I’m taking your phone. McIlroy snatched the device from Potter’s teammate’s hand then spun around and walked away. In a video of the moment that was captured by a fan, shared by several outlets, including Barstool Sports, and now has more than 1.7 million views on X, Potter and his teammate look stunned by what had transpired. Soon after the incident, they were escorted off the property. (The phone was returned.)

Should Potter have known better than to heckle a professional golfer? Most certainly. He’s still young but has been around the game long enough to know its customs and unwritten rules. Actually, in the case of heckling at the Players Championship, there are written rules, spelled out in the official Fan Code of Conduct, which reads: 

Spectators will be subject to expulsion and the loss of ticket privileges for the following breaches of etiquette:

–Making rude, vulgar or other inappropriate comments or gestures;
-Verbal or physical harassment of players, volunteers, officials or spectators;
-Distracting a player or any disruption of play;
-Behavior that is unruly, disruptive, unsafe or illegal in nature;
-Failing to follow the instruction of a championship official, volunteer or security personnel

Did Potter regret his actions? Most certainly again. The University of Texas Athletic Department declined to make Potter available for an interview, but Potter’s coach, John Fields, told me of his player, “He’s got a hole in his heart. He had no idea that what was coming out of his mouth was going to result in this fashion.”  

Fields continued: “With regards to our University of Texas program, I mean it’s an embarrassing moment. It is particularly sensitive to me because our program is built on respect for the game, and I would tell you that we coach 18- to 22-year-olds on a normal basis and they don’t always make the right call, and that’s my responsibility as a coach and when they do make a mistake it’s a learning moment.”

Fields said Potter already has written apology letters to McIlroy; PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan; Brendan von Doehren, who is the director of PGA Tour University; and Scott Schroeder, who is the men’s golf coach at the University of North Florida, the host school of The Hayt tournament. Fields would not say whether Potter is facing any disciplinary measures from the university.

“How we handle [the incident] is extremely important, and suffice to say Luke’s paying the consequences of that,” Fields said. “Going forward he’s going to be a better man. That’s what I think.” 

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WHETHER THAT PATH INCLUDES a home on the PGA Tour is far too early to say. Potter is an excellent college player (and ranked 60th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking), but there are thousands of players who fit that description.

Still, he seems to have found a spark at a university that has been a breeding ground for Tour stars and still has plenty of time to further develop and mature. “It’s just a winning environment here in Austin,” he told the Daily Texan. “It’s kind of like an iron sharpens iron situation on this team because we’re all trying to grind it out and get better and win tournaments.”

Call it a learning experience, both inside the ropes and out, with this week providing a lesson that Potter isn’t likely soon to forget.

“I’m sad that it’s out there in the public,” Fields said of the video. “But at the same time, I’m okay with that because this world has gotten smaller with regards to social media, and you have to be aware of that. Guys like Jordan and Scottie and Rory and Tiger have to deal with this on a daily basis. You know, it’s a wake-up call for all of us.”