Scottie Scheffler couldn't help but let his emotions run free during a particularly tense moment between him and his close PGA Tour friend Tom Kim.
On the 7th hole of the President's Cup on Thursday , Kim sunk a long birdie which looked to be just what the International team needed, going up against Scheffler and Russell Henley of Team USA. After nailing the tough putt, the South Korean star let out a roar, showing just how thrilled he was with making the birdie to seemingly win the hole.
Not to be outdone, the world No. 1 answered Kim's shot, sinking a long putt to one-up the 22-year-old South Korean. Once he saw the putt was good and as the ball slowly fell, Scheffler turned around, quickly spotted Kim and shouted : "WHAT WAS THAT?" in the direction of his friend.
All Kim could do was smile and wave his hand as he and teammate Sungjae Im walked away and to the next hole. On the eighth hole, Scheffler was up for another relatively long putt and before he could continue, the South Koreans walked off the green and to the 9th tee box.
Scheffler ended up missing, adding to the mind games the two sides were playing to get any sort of advantage. And while Kim and Im's actions led to a miss, others, such as NBC Golf's Paul McGinley, saw the move as undercutting the purity of the competition on the course.
"That's bordering on bad behavior," the 57-year-old said . "That's disrespectful in my opinion. I know it's competitive out there, but it certainly shows you there's an underlying edge here that it's not all fun and games."
Afterward, both Scheffler and Henley were asked about the incident and the two American stars admitted that they did not notice Kim and Im walking away. In particular, Scheffler admitted that he only found out after the South Korean stars let him know after the fact.
"Look, we're all out here competing, trying to win points," Henley said. "I play so much golf with those guys. I love both their caddies, Pauley and Willie. So like Scottie said, it's all in good fun, and we're just trying to win points."
Scheffler, for his part, understood why both Kim and Im walked away during his putt. "To be fair to them walking off, I did like scream at them on the hole," he added. "I'm not going to say it was their fault, you know what I mean?"
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Before the competition, Kim explained what it would be like to face off against his close friend and what he would do to get into the head of the No. 1-ranked player in the world.
“If I can play with Scottie, that would be very fun,” Kim said, per the PGA Tour . “We’re comfortable with each other, I play a lot of golf with him back home. For one week, I absolutely dislike him. ... He’s always going to play really, really well but at the same time, if I can do something special on Sunday (singles session) against a player of caliber like him, it’ll be huge for our team.
“You know, my first Presidents Cup was just so passionate and I want to do so much for our team. I'm trying to be a bit of a small voice for our team. I want my teammates to know I'm playing as hard as I can.”
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