Billy Horschel got a heckling fan thrown out of the Cognizant Classic, but that should come as no surprise.
After Billy Horschel flew the green and put his ball in the water on the 15th hole, a fan shouted, “Overseed” at him, a nod to the eight-time PGA Tour winner’s complaints about the PGA National golf course.
Horschel complained that the changes made to the Jack Nicklaus-designed course have made it too easy, so the fan saw the irony in that when he put his ball in the water. Horschel didn’t see the funny side, snapping back at the fan before they were kicked off the premises.
This isn’t the first time that a fan has been kicked out for heckling, and it won’t be the last. But the PGA Tour should be thankful that Horschel didn’t go further after what he told them in 2018.
Billy Horschel said there would be an ‘incident’ if a fan spoke about his family
In 2018, there was an increasing and concerning level of heckling on the PGA Tour, with a number of fans being thrown out of events.
The ever-outspoken Horschel made it clear to the PGA Tour that something had to be done about this, or they risked a serious altercation in the stands between a fan and a player.
Speaking on the Playing Through Podcast, he said, “I told the Tour, listen, if someone says something personal to me about my family that crosses the line, we’re gonna have an incident on our hands.
“Then you guys may take it seriously. I said, ‘We’re one incident away from a player going into the crowd a little bit and handling a situation that has crossed the line.’”
Luckily, the fan at PGA National didn’t cross a line. It was a clever jab that wasn’t particularly personal, even though Horschel didn’t take kindly to it.
Thankfully, that’s all he said, because Horschel has made clear what will happen if a fan ever does get personal.
What Billy Horschel said about the heckling at PGA National
After his round, Horschel actually defended the fans’ right to shout things at him from the stands. He revealed that he hadn’t asked for the fan to be removed from the event and explained why he snapped back at him:
“Listen, everyone has a right to say things. I think there’s just a level of respect that — when somebody is trying to do their job — understand, we’re trying to do a job out here.
“Listen, we are really good golfers, and we can make the game look very easy, but at the end of the day, it is a job. A lot of us are playing for victories. A lot of us are playing for our cards. A lot of us are playing for many different things.
“At the end of the day, it’s a job, and as I’ve always said, I think I can interact with a crowd as much or as little as anybody out here. But I just think it should be respectful. That’s all I ask for. It’s not like I’m going to their job sniping off to them a little bit.”
Horschel fell apart down the stretch after the incident, going four over on his final four holes, but he said the fan had nothing to do with it. He still made the cut on the line, and can make up for it on the weekend.
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