Jon Rahm has issued an apology to a volunteer after striking them with a grass divot during a frustrated reaction to a wayward shot at the PGA Championship. Rahm carded an opening round of 69 at Aronimink, with the lowest point arriving on the seventh hole. The Spaniard executed a disappointing shot from the rough, launching his ball well beyond the back of the green on the par-four hole.
In exasperation, he then swung his club once more, removing a substantial chunk of grass. Rahm didn’t instantly realise that the grass had been launched directly into the face of a nearby volunteer. He subsequently recognised what had occurred and apologised to the gentleman he had hit – and repeated his contrition after his round.
“Thanks for reminding of that,” Rahm said. “I got a flier on my second shot that went long . It’s not a good spot. Just out of frustration, I tried to make an air swing just over the grass, and I wasn’t looking, took a divot, and unfortunately I hit a volunteer.
“Unfortunately it hit him in the shoulder and then the face. I couldn’t feel any worse. That’s why I was there apologising. I need to somehow track him down to give him a present because that’s inexcusable and for something that could be completely avoidable. Whether it was my intention or not, it was just not good.”
Whether Rahm will find himself in trouble with the PGA remains to be seen.
“The player code of conduct is something that has been a collaborative effort among all the majors and the major tours … We had a number of meetings to discuss the issue and how we could come up with a program that we feel is fair and effective,” Haigh said ahead of the tournament.
“From our standpoint, which is all I can speak from the championship way, we have adopted the code of conduct … If a player does something sort of egregious, unfortunately, we would give a warning to that player, and if they were to do it again, there would be a two-shot penalty.
“And there’s a sort of number of sort of examples in the code that sort of gives us some guidance.”
The two-time Major champion could therefore face a formal warning over his behaviour, despite his subsequent apology and pledge to send a gift to the volunteer involved.
Rahm played alongside Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, closing out his round with consecutive birdies to finish one under par after a turbulent and unpredictable afternoon on the course.