Our Eamon Lynch is certainly never short of opinions, but his latest take hits close to home — literally and figuratively.
Scottie Scheffler walked onto the first tee to a chorus, the New York crowd turning golf’s singing in his honor. Minutes later, Wyndham Clark stepped into a far different situation, the tone unmistakably hostile. By Sunday afternoon, the dynamic had hardened into something more uncomfortable. The jeers were no longer background noise, they were an ugly part of the show. Broadcast microphones picked them up repeatedly, with shouts cutting through swings and routines.
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Of course, this wasn’t the first time Long Island fans became part of the story.
Jun 19, 2026; Southampton, New York, USA; Fans look on from the stands during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Less than a year removed from the combustible atmosphere of the 2025 Ryder Cup, where player-fan exchanges and over-the-top behavior became a defining subplot, the scene on Sunday carried echoes of that week. The Ryder Cup has always thrived on noise and nationalism, but in 2025 the energy tipped into something more volatile — crowds that weren’t just engaged, but openly antagonistic, emboldened to needle, heckle, and, at times, disrupt.
Our Eamon Lynch has called nearby Manhattan home for years, but he’s seen enough. On Monday’s Golf Central, which he frequently contributes to, Lynch said the PGA of America should pull the next major out of Long Island.
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“Long Island golf fans are a stain on the game of golf. That’s what we were taught Bethpage,” he said. “It’s what we see every single time we go to Long Island, and this isn’t a New York problem, which you hear a lot as well. It doesn’t happen at Winged Foot. It doesn’t happen at Baltusrol, on the other side of the Hudson River. It happens on Long Island every single time.
“It is regional,” Lynch added. “Long Island fans are a particularly hardcore bunch, and what we saw at Bethpage last year. I’ve argued on this on the show that the PGA of America is supposed to go back to Bethpage in 2033 with the PGA Championship. That should not happen. These people do not deserve a major championship.”
The sport has spent years courting energy — leaning into bigger crowds, louder venues, and a more emotional fan experience. The upside is obvious: golf feels alive in these moments in ways it didn’t a decade ago. But the downside creeps in just as quickly and Sunday was another shining example.
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Clark, for his part, pressed through it and earned his second major in the process.
Jun 20, 2026; Southampton, New York, USA; Fans capture Scottie Scheffler as he tees off on one during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
But what was once an outlier at events like the Ryder Cup is bleeding into the week-to-week fabric of the professional game. And as Sunday showed, it doesn’t take a full team competition or international rivalry to spark it. Sometimes all it takes is a leader, a crowd and a mood that turns.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Unruly Long Island fans a ‘stain’ on the game of golf
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