The largest purse of the PGA Tour season is up for grabs this week at The PLAYERS Championship. There is $25 million in play, with the winner taking home a cool $4.5 million. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy once again finds himself in contention, but that is not the primary reason he finds himself in the news.
McIlroy hit his tee shot into the water during Wednesday’s practice round. That prompted a fan to start heckling, referencing the Northern Irishman’s collapse at the Masters in 2011. Rory then walked over to the fan, took his phone from him and walked off with it. The fan was later removed from the venue by security.
#UPDATE — College golfer Luke Potter was booted from the grounds yesterday after heckling Rory with a reference to the 2011 Masters. McIlroy took his phone +had him removed by TOUR security. “Look, I just made a mistake, and I take ownership for it” pic.twitter.com/E5OuTe3IO5
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) March 13, 2025
As it turns out, it was not just a random fan. It was Luke Potter, an amateur golfer and member of the Texas Longhorn golf team. He was fresh off winning the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational, earning him congratulations from fellow Longhorn Scottie Scheffler.
The young golfer owned up to his mistake afterward.
“Look, I just made a mistake, and I take ownership for it,” Potter told Golf Channel, “I apologize for it. That’s about all that needs to be said. … It’s just a good learning experience. Yeah, I apologize.”
Meanwhile, McIlroy was able to put the incident behind him. He carded a 5-under 67 on Thursday and sat in second place entering Friday’s second round.
Following his opening 18, though, Rory was reluctant to address the situation. Upon being by the media if they can inquire about the incident, McIlroy said curtly, “No, you can’t.”
Reporters were persistent, but so was the four-time major champion.
“Because I don’t want you to,” McIlroy replied with a smile. He then completely dismissed the next follow-up, answering instead about his round.
Rory McIlroy was able to maintain his concentration into his second round as well. He carded a 4-under 68 to enter the clubhouse at 9-under overall. But he might not be in good spirits following the round.
McIlroy bogeyed the par-5 9th (his 18th and final hole) of the day. Once again, it was his putter that let him down. Rory missed several makable birdie and par putts throughout his round, particularly on the front nine, which has been a thorn in his side at TPC Sawgrass.
Since 2013, there is a distinct difference between his play on the front and back nines.
Rory is 7-over during that time on the front, while on the back he is an astounding 56-under, according to The Athletic’s Justin Ray On Friday, Rory was 5-under on the back, and 1-over on the front. If he wants to capture his second PLAYERS Championship trophy on Sunday, he will need to figure out how to play better on the early nine.
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