Zach Johnson appeared to swear at spectators during round two of the Masters as he lost his cool after they cheered a triple bogey. But the former Ryder Cup captain laughed away those claims.
Johnson struggled on the par-three 12th hole, carding a six. Patrons at Augusta National appeared to react sarcastically back up on the tee with cheers when he finally sunk his putt.
And Johnson appeared to react angrily to their behaviour, heard saying "oh f*** off" in a foul-mouthed outburst caught on the Amen Corner feed of the tournament's website. Johnson's triple bogey took him from four-over to seven-over for the tournament, all but ending his hopes of making the cut.
Regardless of the audio being picked up, Johnson denied the claims. “That’s laughable,” he said. “That’s completely laughable. I can’t hear the patrons, number one. Number two, I just made a triple-bogey on the 12th hole that evidently is going to make me miss the cut, which at the time I knew was pretty sensitive in the sense that I needed to keep making pars.
“If I’ve said anything, which I’m not going to deny, especially if it’s on camera, one, I apologise, and two, it was fully directed towards myself entirely because I can’t hear anything behind me. Does that make sense?”
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It has been a tough few months for Johnson, who came in for huge criticism after captaining Team USA to a crushing Ryder Cup defeat against Team Europe last year. His latest outburst is the second time the 48-year-old has remonstrated with fans this season.
On the final day of the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, he was filmed confronting fans and telling them "I'm sick of it", before demanding they "just shut up". The tournament is known for its rowdy behaviour from fans and Johnson was questioned on whether he felt fans had "crossed the line".
He responded: "If it crossed the line this week? What's the line? I'm asking you a question". The reporter then asked if he felt the scenes were "inappropriate".
Johnson hit back again, saying: "This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I have been on tour and this is my 21st year." Quizzed on what kept him coming back to Phoenix, he then added: "Bottom line is I don't have to play if I don't want to but I keep coming back.
"I don't dislike the golf course. I like the greens. I try to avoid playing on the West Coast, and these are overseeded Bermuda [greens] so that's usually how I base my schedule. Usually it is bouncy so I can even get loft to my hands, but it was wet this week.
Johnson told fans to "f*** off" after they appeared to cheer his triple bogey (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)"At some point - I don't know what the line is," he added. "But you have people falling out of the rafters, you have fights in the stands. It's to the point where now, how do you reel it in? Because it's taken on a life of its own. I think the Thunderbirds probably need to do something about it.
"I'm assuming they're ashamed. Because at some point, somebody's either going to really, really get hurt or worse. You've got a woman falling down 20 feet."
Emotions continued to boil over, as Johnson admitted he was 'done' with the fallout. I don't have any idea of it I'm going to come back or not," he went on. "That's a team decision, wife decision.
"You're hitting me at a very emotional time right now so if I were to say if I'm going to come back, I'd probably say no. But at the same time, I have no idea.. Because I just played 54 holes in two days and I'm beat, and extremely - I'm done. I'm done with it... I'm done with everything."
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