Scottie Scheffler has been widely praised for his ‘amazing’ sportsmanship after being left frustrated by American crowd behaviour during his Presidents Cup singles victory. The world No 1 faced Nico Echavarria on the final day at Medinah, where the Colombian was distracted by a spectator yelling in his backswing during his tee shot at the par-four 14th. Echavarria dropped his club and stared at the culprit as his ball finished in the right rough, while Scheffler called out the heckler.
The Presidents Cup rookie then had to lay up and failed to stay on the green with his third shot. Scheffler generously conceded his opponent's 32-foot putt for par because of the incident, extending the match, before closing out a 2&1 win to move the United States a point closer to their victory target. "To be honest with you, I don't even really want to talk about it," Scheffler told Golf Channel after his win.
"I think there's no real place for that in our game." American fans were accused of "crossing the line" during last year's Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, where European players were subjected to personal abuse, although there have been far less crowd issues during the Presidents Cup. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "It's just ridiculous, somebody yelling in his swing off the tee," Scheffler added. "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.
It's just frustrating." Echavarria made par at the 15th and extended the match with a stunning chip-in birdie from off the 16th green, where he shushed the home crowd in celebration, before seeing his defeat confirmed on the next hole. "What happened on 14 with that fan was very unfortunate," Echavarria admitted. "But he [Scheffler] gave me a 20-footer for par, which shows the character of the No 1 in the world.
He's a good person overall. Even with how good he is [as a player], he's a truly amazing guy. I wish it would have gone to the 18th, but he played well." On the chip-in at the 16th, Echavarria added: "It's just frustrating with the amount of things that they say to you, so when you can give one back to them, it feels really good.
Making that to keep the match going was very cool." Scheffler's victory was one of 9.5 points won by Team USA on a record-breaking final day in Chicago, completing a 17-13 victory and the biggest final-day comeback in Presidents Cup history, with International Team captain Geoff Ogilvy joining the world No 1 in condoning the mid-swing yelling. "I think for the most part out there it [the atmosphere] was great," Ogilvy said in his press conference, having fallen short in their bid for a first Presidents Cup win since 1998. "They [the crowd] took a while to warm their voice, Chicago, but they got there today.
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