Medinah (United States) (AFP) – Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler was so aggravated by a yelling US supporter at the Presidents Cup on Sunday that he conceded a 30-foot chip shot to Colombia’s Nico Echavarria. The stand for sportsmanship took place on the 14th hole at Medinah late in the concluding singles matches of the event, which the United States won for the 11th consecutive time, beating the Internationals 17-13.
Scheffler owned a 3-up lead over the South American when a spectator in the crowd yelled as Echavarria was in the process of making his shot, the ball sailing well right as he glared at the disruptor. Scheffler, a four-time major winner, walked toward the gallery and said, “There’s no place for that.” To back up his point later on the hole, Scheffler conceded an unlikely chip shot and both players finished with a par on the hole, when Scheffler would likely have taken a 4-up lead with four holes remaining.
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“It’s just ridiculous, somebody yelling in his swing off the tee,” Scheffler said after the match. “There’s absolutely no place for that. You should get 30 seconds to a minute when you’re over the ball or getting ready to hit your shot where there’s some silence, and it’s just frustrating.”
Echavarria praised Scheffler as a “class act” for his move. “Someone yelled on my backswing. It didn’t happen just once. It was a tough environment,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that in some way the crowds can affect performance like that, but we have the number one player in the world, who is a class act. I wasn’t expecting for him to give me that putt for par, and he did, and we tied the hole.”
Scheffler, who defeated Echavarria 2&1 to finish 3-1 in Presidents Cup matches, said he was thrown off by the yell as well. “I was very frustrated. It was honestly a big distraction, for me, just because we compete and work so hard to put ourselves in these moments,” Scheffler explained. “It just didn’t really sit well with me. He would never hit a shot as poorly as he hit off the 14th if there wasn’t a fan yelling in his swing. It was just very frustrating.”
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