Matt Fitzpatrick, 31, the 2022 US Open champion and world No. 3, says gambling is increasingly driving abuse from fans towards professional golfers at major events. He told reporters that "every golfer that's played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling" [1].
Fitzpatrick highlighted incidents at major US events including the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black and the March 2026 Players Championship, where he experienced hostile behavior from fans tied to gambling interests. "For me, it's definitely becoming a problem. It would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it's you're shouting on someone's backswing, shouting on a putting stroke. It's really easy," he said, noting the difficulty of monitoring such conduct [2].
He stressed that while he welcomes a lively atmosphere, limits are necessary to prevent behavior crossing into abuse. "I want an atmosphere at a golf tournament. I've said a million times, I love football, I love the atmosphere of a football match... I'm all for an atmosphere, but obviously, I don't want it to cross a line," Fitzpatrick said [2].
The issue comes amid the 154th Open Championship held this month at Royal Birkdale, which expects more than 300,000 spectators. The R&A has introduced a new code of conduct for fans encouraging respectful behavior during the event [1]. Local favorite Tommy Fleetwood acknowledged the challenge of balancing crowd atmosphere with decorum, saying "The crowds are a huge part of golf, and it's difficult to ask everyone to behave in a manner that you would want them to behave in while wanting the atmosphere to be as big as possible and as good as possible" [1].
Fitzpatrick is one of the top performers this PGA Tour season with three wins to his name. Meanwhile, 43-year-old former Claret Jug winner Louis Oosthuizen withdrew from the Open on July 13 due to a back injury [2, 3, 4].
