MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A difficult day for Bryson DeChambeau was made even more trying because of a few hecklers.
During a final-round 74 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational that saw him drop from a share of second place into a tie for eighth, DeChambeau was taunted with calls of “Brooksy!” as he played the back nine at TPC Southwind. At one point, on the 12th green, a security guard told the group that he’d take a heightened interest in the hecklers, but it didn’t appear as though any fan was tossed.
DeChambeau was unavailable for comment after the round, but his playing partner, Harris English, said it was “unfortunate” that DeChambeau has to endure the jeers.
“It’s not real fair for them to call him ‘Brooksy’ a lot,” said English, who shot 73 and finished a shot out of the playoff. “It kind of sucks and obviously he hears it, and it affects him a little bit and he doesn’t like it, and I think that causes them to do it more. It just sucks that that’s out here right now, that they’re trying to irk people like that. It’s just unfortunate.”
Full-field scores from the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
The “Brooksy!” calls are a reference to DeChambeau’s ongoing feud with Brooks Koepka. At the Memorial in June, Koepka seemed to encourage the disruptive behavior, even offering beer to those fans who might have been thrown out.
Sunday marked the end of another controversy-filled week for DeChambeau, who earlier expressed no regrets about missing the Olympics because of a positive COVID-19 test. He said that he was unvaccinated and wouldn’t get the shot because the vaccine is not widely available in the U.S., a claim disputed by health experts. He didn’t speak to reporters during the first three rounds at TPC Southwind, choosing instead to only answer questions from the Tour’s rights-holders.
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