MEDINAH — Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler made a stand for sportsmanship at the Presidents Cup on Sunday, conceding a 30-foot chip to Colombia's Nico Echavarria after a U.S. supporter yelled during his swing on the 14th hole at Medinah. The gesture came late in the concluding singles as the United States beat the Internationals 17-13 to win the event for an 11th consecutive time.
Scheffler owned a 3-up lead when the incident occurred. Echavarria was in the process of hitting his tee shot when a spectator yelled, the ball sailing well right as he glared at the disruptor. Scheffler walked toward the gallery and said, "There's no place for that." He later explained, "It's just ridiculous, somebody yelling in his swing off the tee. There's absolutely no place for that. You should get 30 seconds to a minute when you're over the ball or getting ready to hit your shot where there's some silence, and it's just frustrating."
To back up his point, the four-time major winner conceded Echavarria's unlikely chip shot later on the hole. Both players finished with par, when Scheffler likely would have taken a 4-up lead with four holes remaining. Echavarria praised the move, calling Scheffler a "class act." "Someone yelled on my backswing. It didn't happen just once. It was a tough environment," he said. "It's unfortunate that in some way the crowds can affect performance like that, but we have the number one player in the world, who is a class act. I wasn't expecting for him to give me that putt for par, and he did, and we tied the hole."
Scheffler said he was thrown off by the yell as well and felt the shot was directly affected. "I was very frustrated. It was honestly a big distraction, for me, just because we compete and work so hard to put ourselves in these moments," Scheffler explained. "It just didn't really sit well with me. He would never hit a shot as poorly as he hit off the 14th if there wasn't a fan yelling in his swing. It was just very frustrating." Scheffler went on to defeat Echavarria 2&1 to finish 3-1 in Presidents Cup matches.
The U.S. victory extended its dominant run in the biennial event, following its 11th straight Presidents Cup triumph in singles at Medinah.