There’s a huge difference between trash talking, like West Palm Beach native Brooks Koepka did before the final round – when he pointed out he was the only player on the leaderboard with more than one major – and talking trash like Thomas did at least twice during his final round.
Every year the PGA Tour receives complaints from the FCC from viewers after hearing expletives during a golf telecast. Tiger Woods memorably dropped the f-bomb during a Saturday morning telecast in 2000, when he knocked his tee shot at Pebble Beach’s 18th hole into the Pacific Ocean while completing a rain-delayed second round.
Spit happens on a golf course. But there’s an easy cure.
As Dolch notes, PGA Tour fines don’t mean much and have long been an unsuccessful deterrent to swearing. And it’s a double-edged sword, as we love to see passionate players get in their strange little zones on the course. Yet in the open microphone era of fan-free COVID-19, they also have to be aware that more can be heard than ever before.
Since pace of play has improved without fans and backstopping seems to have finally become less of a thing, maybe it’s time for the Commissioner to send a friendly reminder for players to try their best to choose their words more carefully.