Golf is deemed to be a calming sport… however, there are exceptions! Players losing their calm on the golf course is a rare sight, but it is a sight nonetheless. On the PGA Tour, this may not be as common; however, with LIV Golf, it’s a different story. The players on the breakaway circuit are often mic’d up, and even their small mishaps, followed by a few curses, are hence recorded. This constant cursing may be fun for some, but for many others, it goes too far. And 3-time major winner Padraig Harrington is part of the latter.

Like the majority of the golf world, Harrington was also watching the 2024 Masters. There, LIV stars dropped curses after curses on the course. Jon Rahm, who has lost his cool on the course numerous times before, did so after he missed his drive on the 18th hole on the opening day. The Spaniard relieved his anger by saying, “Go f**k yourself.” Rahm’s LIV teammate, Tyrrell Hatton, also delivered one f-bomb on day three when his chip bounced off.

Harrington recounted these incidents on Peter Finch’s Rough Cut podcast and said, “There was quite a bit of—on the Masters last week, there was an awful lot of extra expletives from LIV players. Clearly, LIV players don’t get fined for exclusives and I’m not saying they’re encouraged but they’re certainly not discouraged from doing it. So it was interesting that there was those players who might have held back in the past who are now LIV players were letting go fully.”

LIV Golf and PGA Tour have different rules when it comes to profanity on the course. And Harrington strongly believed this needed changing. “I don’t mind the odd bit of cursing and a bit of that but it was a little you know. There’s got to be some sort of restriction on it in some way.”

Even during his LIV Golf debut, Jon Rahm dropped an f-bomb on the course. After hitting the tee shot on the 18th, he had a hunch it might not land where he wanted it to. The golfer then cried out, “F**k! Get lucky.” Before LIV, too, he was a hothead. At the 2023 PGA Championship, he also yelled out, “Great Hole. PGA. Great F**king Hole,” when his approach shot did not go as planned.

Rahm’s hot-headedness was also evident at The Open in 2018. After another double-bogey made it six dropped shots in just three holes, a furious Rahm launched his club in a rage, before collecting it again and slamming it back into his bag.

These bursts of abuse didn’t sit right with Harrington. On the podcast, he mentioned that when he started his golf career, he was strong on the game’s etiquette and added that, to date, he still follows it. “I wouldn’t break a club, and I would certainly try not to curse or do any of that sort of stuff,” said the Irish star.

That being said, the Irishman made it clear that he didn’t have the same expectations from his fellow golfers; however, he did believe that these outbursts needed to be contained and not affect others. “I don’t mind what any other player does as long as he doesn’t damage the golf course or affect his playing partners. So I have no problem.”

Harrington’s strong opinion on profanity is perhaps drilled into him by the PGA Tour itself, which thinks along the same lines as this. In fact, on the Tour, if one does curse, there’s a price to pay.

The cost of swearing on the PGA Tour

After missing a 5-foot putt, Justin Thomas frustratingly used a homophobic slur at the 2021 Sentry TOC. The pro profusely apologized afterward and promised never to make such a mistake. Regardless of his apology, however, the fact that others heard his curse was more than enough for the PGA Tour to enforce a fine like they usually do on players who swear on the course. Regrettably, JT also experienced the suspension of his clothing sponsorship with Ralph Lauren.

The PGA Tour has always been stringent when it comes to profanity. An undercover pro revealed to Golf Digest that he was fined $2,500 for saying ‘b*tch’ during an event. Moreover, the Tour has caught the 82-time PGA Tour winner, Tiger Woods, more than once for dropping f-bombs and thus imposed him with fines too. The same rules apply to all the pros playing on the Tour, hence forcing them to think before they speak.

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