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Bubba Watson’s defence of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship ended rather meekly after he lost his first two group matches at Austin Country Club.

The left-hander went down to Kevin Na and Billy Horschel on the opening two days of the second WGC of 2019 to render his final match (against Jordan Spieth today) meaningless.

However, he still managed to leave an impression on this year’s championship after getting into an argument with a supporter during his match with Horschel.

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It’s not clear what happened beforehand but, after hitting his tee shot on the par-4 third hole, two-time Masters champion Watson spun around and called out somebody who had evidently been heckling him.

“It’s funny how tough you are but then looked away,” said Watson. “Pretty funny. Everybody’s big behind the ropes and behind the computer.”

Check it out here…

This incident comes less than two weeks after Ian Poulter labelled some fans at the PLAYERS Championship “idiots” who “can’t handle a couple of beers” after he was subjected to repeated verbal abuse at TPC Sawgrass.

Earlier this week, Rory McIlroy called for golf’s power-brokers to more closely monitor fan behaviour at golf events and, where necessary, eject spectators who overstep the mark.


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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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