Zach Johnson was right on the cutline as he stepped onto the tee box at the 12th hole during his second round on Friday at The Masters.
After carding an opening two-over 74 he was even par for his second round through 11 holes but things got a bit messy.
On the par-3 12th, Johnson snapped his tee shot into the trees left of the green and had to peg it up on the tee again. He missed his next shot right of the green, leaving him a difficult chip that he left six feet below the hole for double bogey. Johnson missed that and then tapped in for triple, drawing what seemed like sarcastic cheers from patrons back behind the tee box.
“F— off,” Johnson said, in a moment that was caught on camera and quickly made the rounds on social media. When quizzed by the media after his round, The Ryder Cup captain had changed his tune however.
“I’m not familiar with any social media thing out there,” he said when asked about the incident after his round.
When a reporter said that there was speculation that Johnson’s profanity was directed at patrons, he said: “I swore at the patrons? That’s laughable. 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.”
Johnson then apologised before claiming the F-bomb was directed at himself for making triple, and not at the fans, who were “actually 154 [yards] away.”
He added, “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.”
Johnson played the closing six holes in even par to finish with a four-over 75. At seven over for the week to miss the cut by one. For context below is the incident.
Zach Johnson legitimately told the Masters patrons to fuck off after a triple on 12. You can hear it as clear as day here 😳 pic.twitter.com/vPMadfVPUt
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) April 12, 2024
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