Jon Rahm Takes The Bait On Ridiculous Question, Says PGA Tour May Want To Look Into Fans Disrupting Play With Gambling Talk
After wrapping up his third round at the BMW Championship last weekend Max Homa rightfully voiced his frustrations about a fan yelling during the back of his putting stroke to win a $3 side bet with his buddy. Homa ultimately made the putt, tossed a few choice words in the fan's direction, but then said he "loves" that people gamble on golf.
The fan was reportedly removed from the course after what can now be chalked up to a dumb (likely drunk) fan doing something stupid. Nevertheless, it's remained a talking point among some in the media four days later which led Jon Rahm to be asked about it prior to this week's Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Rahm had not read or heard anything about Homa's situation, but after having it explained to him, he detailed that that sort of thing happens very often.
"I feel like we hear it every single round. That happens way more often than you guys may hear. I mean, it's very, very present."
"In golf, spectators are very close, and even if they're not directly talking to you, they're close enough to where if they say to their buddy, I bet you 10 bucks he's going to miss it, you hear it," Rahm told the press in Atlanta.
"So it happens more often than you think, yeah. But not only that, on the tee and down the fairway. I mean, luckily golf fans are pretty good for the most part and you're hearing the positive, I got 20 bucks you make birdie here, things like that. But no, it's more often than you think."
Jon Rahm doesn't think the PGA Tour looking into gambling fans would be a bad idea. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The reporter asked the obvious, and also ridiculous follow-up question about whether or not Rahm thinks the Tour should "step in and take control," to which the Spaniard said it could.
"You know, in a game like this where you're allowed to have your favorites, but it's not a team aspect, right, it's not a home team against a visiting team, I think the TOUR maybe should look into it because you don't want it to get out of hand, right," Rahm asked.
Rahm did, however, point out the obvious that it would be impossible for the Tour to control 50,000+ fans spread out over 150 acres.
"So I think they could look into it, but at the same time, it would be extremely difficult for the TOUR to somehow control the 50,000 people scattered around the golf course, right? So it's a complicated subject," Jon Rahm stated. "You don't want it to get out of control, but you also want to have the fans to have the experience they want to have."
I'm now dying to know what the reporter who asked Rahm the question about 'taking control' actually has in mind. The first step would be not to sell alcohol, which would lose the Tour millions of dollars, but then what, are security guards just going to start taking out people who are talking within 50 yards of a player?
A discussion about controlling golf fans who make dumb decisions is a waste of time. Unless the PGA Tour would like to start playing tournaments without fans, there are going to be a few characters in the crowd acting like morons.
Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris