Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim had a fiery moment on the seventh green of the Presidents Cup on Thursday as the friendly golf rivals barked at each other following birdies.
Kim, who is paired with Sungjae Im today in the USA vs. rest of world competition, went first and sunk a long putt before looking over at Scheffler and pumping his fist in celebration.
But Scheffler got some payback moments later when he made a birdie of his own.
The world No. 1 then said ‘what was that?’ towards Kim before high-fiving his teammate Russell Henley and cracking a smile.
Kim and Scheffler are known to be close friends and the former, a South Korea native, couldn’t help but grin at the moment as well.
However, he soon did something that was ‘disrespectful’ in the view of one announcer.
Instead of waiting for Scheffler to finish putting on the eighth hole, Kim and Im walked away to the ninth hole 60 yards away.
Former Irish golf star Paul McGinley said on NBC, ‘That’s bordering on bad behavior…that’s disrespectful in my opinion.’
Through 11, Scheffler and Henley led Kim and Im by one stroke.
As the Presidents Cup approached, the International Team tried to inspire its players to an unlikely victory with a bold rallying cry.
In a bid to spur the players on, the team’s shield has popped up in Tokyo city center on the sidewalks of Seoul, in a natural area outside of Montreal, in graffiti art in Cape Town and on a beach in Melbourne.
The International Team is made up of a host of top players, including Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee and Corey Conners.
Their USA rivals also include world No 2 Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, Max Homa and Sam Burns.
