Hideki Matsuyama buries putter 5 feet away from hole...

[tmac20]

You got a source or video to back that up? I didn't see the incident so maybe you're right however, if that was the case how would Poulter even be aware of the incident?

I can't find a video but I just saw it on the Golf Channel about an hour ago. He looked like he was going to slam his club but then slowed it down and hardly made contact with the green. I'm surprised it even left a mark. I don't think Matsuyama realized that it made a mark.

[Crim]

Poulter +3 on the day so far.....

[Valleygolfer]

The way the media portrayed it, he buried it up to the handle. I didn't see anything about this until this morning so it might be a little internet urban legend stuff going on........yellow monkey peanut butter

[iacas]

Nowhere near as bad as Poulter said. He should apologize for over-reacting.

[newtogolf]

I like Poulter in Ryder Cup competitions and match play because he's intense and clutch but overall he's a really whiney attention *****.  I think it's great that pro golfers use social media to communicate with the fans but he's gone a bit overboard.  No one, especially not a pro golfer should damage a green but if you didn't see the replay and just read Poulters tweet you'd think it was much worse than it was.

I agree with @iacas Poulter should apologize and I'd be surprised if he didn't get an e-mail from the WGC about this.

[Ernest Jones]

Nowhere near as bad as Poulter said. He should apologize for over-reacting.

Wow! Way overblown. I don't even see a mark, let alone a "crater".

[flopster]

Poulter is an ass hat, pure and simple, he has just catapulted himself as one of my most disliked players. The guy is so full of himself he needs to be knocked down a few notches.

[MS256]

Yep. Overblown. From the story I expected worse than that. Maybe it looked worse than it actually was to Pouler from a distance,from the motion and that an offical "fixed it". Poulter doesn't bother me (and he's a tough son-of-a-gun in the Ryder Cup) but he should apologize and next time try a face to face instead of a social media slap.

[Golfingdad]

Poulter doesn't bother me.  I like him.  Did he over-react here?  Perhaps.  Does he have a lot of opinions?  Sure.  But he's a competitor and I like that.

[iacas]

Poulter has a long, long history of "over-reacting."

[Valleygolfer]

I think the next threesome that came through (with Poulter) saw the mark and had to have the official repair it because it wasn't a ball mark and they couldn't touch the green. That is where it came from I bet. The mark was probably enough to affect the roll of who was putting with him. I can't remember who he said it was.

[jbishop15]

For as much fuss as Poulter made, I expected the putter to be literally stuck in the ground. Wow. And then to embarrass the guy publicly instead of being an adult and taking him to the side is really, really crappy of him. Makes me think he cared less about the green and more about making himself look good.

[Valleygolfer]

For as much fuss as Poulter made, I expected the putter to be literally stuck in the ground. Wow. And then to embarrass the guy publicly instead of being an adult and taking him to the side is really, really crappy of him. Makes me think he cared less about the green and more about making himself look good.

Well duh! :-P it's Poulter, he is an attention hog. To be honest I have been annoyed with people not repairing marks or raking the sand when I am playing but I don't have a few million dollars of angry behind it. It's hard to quantify the response I guess.

[flopster]

All I want to add is that if Poulter is going to hold everyone to that level of accountability (meaning shout it all over social media) then he needs to watch his own ass from here on, was Matsuyama wrong to slam his putter the way he did? sure, but the way Poulter conducted himself was adolescent and he should expect some sort of backlash in the future because it's justified.

[colin007]

I amend my previous viewpoin. That's hardly any damage at al, overreaction from Pouts.

[Golfingdad]

I think the next threesome that came through (with Poulter) saw the mark and had to have the official repair it because it wasn't a ball mark and they couldn't touch the green. That is where it came from I bet. The mark was probably enough to affect the roll of who was putting with him. I can't remember who he said it was.

This is what fascinates me:  The free pass that everybody here is giving Matsuyama on this simply because of the disdain for Poulter.

A player on the PGA tour, and not just some Monday qualifying schmo in a crap tournament either, but one who is in the top 68 players in the world in a WGC event, damages a green out of anger a few feet from the hole, with players on the course behind him, and doesn't bother to repair the damage ... but its no big deal because one of the guys behind him is a douchebag from Europe who likes to run his mouth.  Are you ****ing kidding me?!?!?!?!

[iacas]

A player on the PGA tour, and not just some Monday qualifying schmo in a crap tournament either, but one who is in the top 68 players in the world in a WGC event, damages a green out of anger a few feet from the hole, with players on the course behind him, and doesn't bother to repair the damage ... but its no big deal because one of the guys behind him is a douchebag from Europe who likes to run his mouth.  Are you ****ing kidding me?!?!?!?!

Just one question: did you watch the video?

Actually, two questions. Here's the second: do you admit that there were other, perhaps more professional ways, to handle this kind of situation rather than tweeting about it?

[MS256]

Uhm. Just for the record I'm not giving anybody a free pass (and I am part of "everybody" as of the last time I checked). ;-) He shouldn't have damaged the green (little as it seemed to be) and Poulter should have told him to his face if he didn't like it.