The U.S. Open, the third major tournament of the year for golf, is being played right now at Los Angeles Country Club in California.
Fan favorite golfer Rickie Fowler (the guy that wears all orange sometimes) has been playing some great golf to start the tourney, holding a share of the lead after the first round after putting up a blazing 62 (8 under par) yesterday.
His hot start continued during the second round earlier today, making birdie on four of his first seven holes. For those non-golf fans out there, that’s pretty damn good. Especially while you are leading the tournament.
However, once he got to the Par 3 7th hole, he ran into a little bit of a hiccup. After hitting the green with his first shot, he took three putts to get the ball into the hole, recording his second bogey of the day.
Three putts in golf are some of the most brutal ways to “give away strokes” during competition, and Fowler was clearly upset with himself after he left his par putt short. He also ended up being upset with a fan who was watching from outside the ropes, who shouted after Rickie missed the putt asking:
“What are you doing?”
You can tell in the video that Fowler thought about whether or not he should respond to the fan for just a second, but right before he tapped the ball in, he looked over towards the fan, shrugged and either said:
“I don’t know.”
OR
“Leading the US Open.”
The internet is convinced that he said one of those two things, and I would be happy with either of them. If he shrugged and said “I don’t know,” that’s just hilarious. If he shrugged and said “Leading the US Open,” that would be one of the most badass clap backs in golf history.
I’m no lip reader, but it looks like he didn’t have enough time to say the second one, so I’m going to assume that he responded with an “I don’t know.”
Watch the video yourself and see what you think:
That single interaction makes me like Rickie Fowler even more.
Fowler has struggled to find his swing in recent years, even having to enter into public qualifiers for tournaments that he used to be exempt for in his younger days. He already had a large fanbase behind him this week, but after this back and forth with a fan, I’m sure everyone is aboard the Rickie train for the week.
Twitter users couldn’t get enough of the brilliant response to the US Open heckler, sending out hilarious replies like these:
Me to the guy who said that. pic.twitter.com/7BxCOeWeg2
— Kel Varnsen (@KelVarnsen111) June 16, 2023
Keep cooking the 26 handicaps in the audience, Rick! BDR conquering the clowns!
— Suds (@Profe_Suds) June 16, 2023
