For the first time all week, Rickie Fowler made a mistake on Los Angeles Country Club’s greens — and a heckler let him know.
But Fowler, always the entertainer, had the perfect response and he might not have even said a word.
Fowler set the U.S. Open single-round record with a 62 on Thursday, and he made five birdies in his opening nine Friday to climb to 11 under at the turn. It took him just 20 holes to reach double digits under par, the fastest in tournament history.
But let’s go back to the 7th green, where Fowler’s hot putter cooled just *slightly* (and temporarily).
Fowler knocked his tee shot on the gargantuan 299-yard par-3 on the front edge of the green and left his first putt 15 feet short. His par attempt wasn’t that much better, coming up nearly a foot-and-a-half short. Apparently a fan wasn’t too thrilled with it either.
“What are you doing?” cried out a heckler, clearly very close to one of NBC’s microphones. But Fowler had the perfect response.
His response was simply ¯_(ツ)_/¯
— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) June 16, 2023
Rickie by 100pic.twitter.com/xFDPxNDjep
He looked in the direction of the heckler and shrugged his shoulders, although it was difficult to tell if Fowler actually said something back to the person.
The crowd burst into laughter as Fowler cleaned up his bogey putt, which still retained a one-shot lead over Wyndham Clark. As he picked his ball out of the cup, he gave the heckler one last wave goodbye.
If Fowler said anything to the fan — who clearly could handle Los Angeles Country Club better than the best in the world are this week — the broadcast didn’t pick it up. However, an analyst on the USA Network broadcast offered something the California native could have responded with.
“I’m leading the U.S. Open by a shot, that’s what I’m doing out here,” he said.
Of course, Fowler didn’t lead the U.S. Open by “a shot” for long. He birdied the par-5 8th to immediately restore his lead to two at 11 under.
Talk about getting the last laugh.
