Scottie Scheffler responds to bad fan behavior with a gesture of sportsmanship

MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler didn’t feel like talking about the most memorable part of his singles victory over Nico Echavarria in the Presidents Cup. His actions said plenty Sunday.

Scheffler conceded a 30-foot par putt from off the back of the 14th green, all because of a fan who disrupted Echavarria in the middle of his tee shot.

“(It) shows the character of the No. 1 in the world,” Echavarria said. “He’s just different. Even how good he is, he’s a truly amazing guy.”

Scheffler was comfortably ahead of Echavarria, a Colombian making his Presidents Cup debut who was left out of matches the previous two days. He was 3 up on the 14th tee when a fan yelled as Echavarria was in the middle of his swing.

He dropped his driver as the tee shot sailed well to the right. Scheffler stepped in and barked at the fan, “There’s no place for that!” And they played on.

Scheffler had a birdie putt from 18 feet. Echavarria could only advance his shot to some 60 yards short of the green, and his pitch was too strong and rolled just over the back.

Scheffler conceded the par putt, and then missed his birdie putt. The hole was halved.

It was more reminiscent of Payne Stewart conceding a long par putt to Colin Montgomerie on the 18th green at Brookline after the Ryder Cup had been won by the Americans. The raucous crowd had been brutal to Montgomerie all day.

Asked about it in a television interview after Scheffler’s 2-and-1 victory, he said, “To be honest with you, I don’t even really want to talk about it. I think there’s no real place for that in our game. I think we just leave it at that.”

He was a little more expansive in the team interview when the Presidents Cup was over, a 17-13 victory for the Americans.

“I was very frustrated. It was honestly a big distraction just because we compete and work so hard to put ourselves in these moments,” Scheffler said. “When you have some fan who decides to insert himself into the tournament … you can say whatever you want to players, but I think there’s an amount of respect there.”

Scheffler said players deserve at least 30 seconds of quiet as they prepare and hit their shots.

“It just didn’t really sit well with me,” Scheffler said. “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. I don’t really want to talk about it all that much.”

Echavarria said that wasn’t the only moment. Chicago fans were loud and for the most part cheered as much for missed shots by the Internationals as good shots for the Americans. That’s been the way these team competitions have gone the last decade.

“It was a tough environment,” he said. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate that in some way the crowds can affect performance like that. But we have the No. 1 player in the world who’s a class act. I wasn’t expecting for him to give me that putt for par, and he did, and we tied the hole.”

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