This was probably bound to happen, right? Obviously Bethpage Black is both a lovely and implausibly difficult golf course, and in that sense a perfect location for the U.S. Open, but it’s also right there on Long Island. Any map can tell you that. And a passing knowledge of Long Island in general should tell you that this thing just must not have been allowed to go forward. Hold a fancy-pants event outdoors in the heart of Strong I, then sell beer, then ask America’s Most Meatheaded for even the most basic comity and quiet — as the guy with the gun-on-bicep tats says in this Daily Show video about Long Island’s secession plans, “good luck with that.”
So, guess what? Here’s Patrick Whittle in Newsday setting the scene on the 10th hole:
At 6:42 p.m., dozens of drunken spectators at Hole 10 taunted Woods as he prepared to start his third round in the rain. “We’re on Long Island, baby, where men are men!” one fan yelled. “Put that umbrella down!”
…Woods did not respond to the people who were heckling him but tried to quiet the crowd with a “sshh” hand gesture, putting his finger to his lips, as golfers prepared to tee off on the adjacent 12th tee.
“Suck it up, you’ve got your own video game!” someone shouted at Woods. Some fans, apparently disgusted by the hecklers’ behavior, walked away from the hole. Others told the vocal contingent to quiet down, which had no effect on the verbal abuse. Minutes later, a group of fans greeted Fred Funk at the 10th hole by shouting his last name as an obscenity.
A little earlier, drunken fans at the seventh hole shouted at golfers, “This Bud’s for you!” On the ninth fairway, drunks called out “you suck” to players while spectators on the other side booed the hecklers.
Long Island, this is why you can’t have nice things.