‘Why you’re in the stands’ – Rickie Fowler claps back at heckling fan with brutal jibe

Rickie Fowler was in no mood for hecklers during his third round at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. The 36-year-old was in contention at the Florida course, tied sixth, when he was putting for a birdie on the par-4 16th. Fowler was infuriated by what a fan said in the standsX He sent the long putt just to the right of the hole and must have heard something from the stands. As he was going down place his marker, he said: “Of course you know.” Before adding: “That’s why you’re in the stands.” The six-time PGA Tour winner did manage to compose himself to tap in the par. Fowler carded a three-under-par 68 to keep himself in contention for Sunday’s final round. Jake Knapp leads the field on -13, while Fowler is three shots further back in tied-sixth. He needs a solid final round to achieve his first PGA Tour win since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic. Over the last few years he has seen his ranking slide as he struggles for results on the tour. Once ranked as high as world number four, he started 2025 at 74 and has dropped even further to 95th place. Fowler is one of the nearly men of his generation, having finished inside the top five at a major on nine occasions. Fowler regained his composure to close out his round and stay in contentionX View Tweet: https://t.co/GaEDdfAtpq His 2014 season saw him end up second at The US Open and The Open. His difficult spell has been compounded by his request for a sponsor’s exemption into next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, at Bay Hill, being rejected by tournament organisers. Explaining the decision, Palmer’s grandson and former tour pro Sam Saunders told Golfweek: “Rickie’s one of my friends but it has to be non-biased. You try to make sponsor exemptions to be objective and not subjective. And I think that’s what our team did quite well. “I think every one of us wants Rickie Fowler to be playing in the tournament, we love him. “He’s been one of the best spokespersons on behalf of my grandfather and carrying on that legacy, nobody does it better than Rickie Fowler. “Rickie had gotten a couple of opportunities for exemptions in the elevated events already, and that was something that had to be taken into consideration. Rickie Fowler's Top 10 major finishes 2011 – Tied-5th in The Open 2013 – Tied-10th in The US Open 2014 – Tied-5th in The Masters 2014 – Tied-2nd in The US Open 2014 – Tied-2nd in The Open 2014 – Tied-3rd in The PGA Championship 2017 – Tied-5th in The US Open 2017 – Tied-5th in The PGA Championship 2018 – 2nd in The Masters 2019 – Tied-9th in The Masters 2019 – Tied-6th in The Open 2021 – Tied-8th in The PGA Championship 2023 – Tied-5th in The US Open Fowler has not won on the PGA Tour since 2023Getty “You want other players to get opportunities.” Jordan Speith also saw an identical request for an exemption rejected.

Mar 2, 2025 - 15:23

‘Why you’re in the stands’ – Rickie Fowler claps back at heckling fan with brutal jibe

Rickie Fowler was in no mood for hecklers during his third round at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

The 36-year-old was in contention at the Florida course, tied sixth, when he was putting for a birdie on the par-4 16th.

Fowler was infuriated by what a fan said in the stands

He sent the long putt just to the right of the hole and must have heard something from the stands.

As he was going down place his marker, he said: “Of course you know.”

Before adding: “That’s why you’re in the stands.”

The six-time PGA Tour winner did manage to compose himself to tap in the par.

Fowler carded a three-under-par 68 to keep himself in contention for Sunday’s final round.

Jake Knapp leads the field on -13, while Fowler is three shots further back in tied-sixth.

He needs a solid final round to achieve his first PGA Tour win since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Over the last few years he has seen his ranking slide as he struggles for results on the tour.

Once ranked as high as world number four, he started 2025 at 74 and has dropped even further to 95th place.

Fowler is one of the nearly men of his generation, having finished inside the top five at a major on nine occasions.

Fowler regained his composure to close out his round and stay in contention

View Tweet: https://t.co/GaEDdfAtpq

His 2014 season saw him end up second at The US Open and The Open.

His difficult spell has been compounded by his request for a sponsor’s exemption into next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, at Bay Hill, being rejected by tournament organisers.

Explaining the decision, Palmer’s grandson and former tour pro Sam Saunders told Golfweek: “Rickie’s one of my friends but it has to be non-biased. You try to make sponsor exemptions to be objective and not subjective. And I think that’s what our team did quite well.

“I think every one of us wants Rickie Fowler to be playing in the tournament, we love him.

“He’s been one of the best spokespersons on behalf of my grandfather and carrying on that legacy, nobody does it better than Rickie Fowler.

“Rickie had gotten a couple of opportunities for exemptions in the elevated events already, and that was something that had to be taken into consideration.