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Marc Leishman’s wife, Audrey, has penned a lengthy blog post criticising the US crowds at last week’s Presidents Cup, saying: ‘It was not the golf I know’.
Audrey, an American herself of Filipino descent, was present like all of the wives and girlfriends at Liberty National Golf Club, but said the week was ‘hard on her heart’ after what she witnessed as USA ran out comfortable 19-11 winners.
“There were many times last week that I thought about what the kids were seeing,” wrote Audrey, whose two boys were at home with her parents. “The crowds booing for good shots and cheering for missed putts. The drinking at 7am? Screaming ‘Big Easy’ to Ernie Els and begging for his autograph and then yelling at his players.
“Heckling a wife for her beauty and then her husband for his play. I was thankful my boys weren’t there to see the way people were treating their daddy. Their hero. My parents could simply turn the television off.”
She continued by saying that some fans’ abusive behaviour started right from the opening ceremony. “Golf is truly a gentleman’s sport. But last week was not the golf I know.
“During the opening ceremony, I was enjoying the Fanatics singing their songs that most people have come to love when I heard an American scream, ‘Speak English!’ 1. What an awful and ignorant thing to say. 2. They were speaking English. 3. Half of the International Team is bilingual. How many languages do you speak?
“The rest of the week didn’t get much better nor did the insults. Someone yelled ‘Blooming Onion!’ to Marc. Check yourself and your facts because that’s not Australian in the least.
Does any right-thinking person find this acceptable? Time for organisers to evict these morons and for true sports fan to shout them down. pic.twitter.com/90KR53YqN4
— Tony Johnstone (@TonyJohnstone56) October 4, 2017
“I understand that this was not every fan. In fact, I believe that most of the people acting that way were not actually golf fans. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that they were the loudest and that the people around them did not ask them to stop.”
She concluded: “America has had a hard year. Last week was a chance to come together over something so simple, the love of golf. I wish we could have shown our best. With the Statue of Liberty as our backdrop, we certainly should have.”
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