There's no denying that competition can become intense, especially when you're in contention for a first PGA Tour victory. However, on Saturday evening at the Valspar Championship, that intensity perhaps got the better of Englishman, Matt Wallace, when he was seen visibly giving his caddie, Sam Bernard, a talking-to.
After firing a four-under-par round of 67 on Friday, Wallace had moved into contention for a maiden PGA Tour title. Throughout his third round, the 32-year-old was plugging away nicely, with four birdies and two bogeys on the difficult Copperhead Course at Innisbrook.
Playing the 17th though, Wallace found his third bogey of the day with a pushed drive at the last looking like another would follow suit. Finding the cart path, he elected to hit his next from it, instead of taking relief, with the Englishman catching it wrong and finishing well short of the green. This is where the argument comes in...
Matt Wallace berating his caddie at Valspar for a club decision on shot off the cart-path pic.twitter.com/v8DbE4neGqMarch 18, 2023
Walking down the fairway, it was unclear at the time, whether something was said by the caddie or Wallace but, in a 20-second clip that was posted by the Twitter page: @WagersGator, it became apparent that the two were having a war of words, although the only clear sentence that could be lip-read was “shut the f*** up”.
Thankfully, for both caddie and Wallace, he did manage to make the save for par, after he pitched from 30-yards to around five feet. This means that he sits just three shots back of leader, Adam Schenk, who is currently eight-under for the tournament.
According to NBC on-course reporter, Cara Banks, who managed to speak to Wallace as they walked to the scorer's hut, the pair had smoothed things over, with Banks stating on broadcast that: “Matt was simply frustrated with his bogey on 17 and the errant drive on 18. He was frustrated at Sam questioning whether he should take a drop before the second shot. He felt he should just play it as it lies, as he did. Sam questioning him interfered with his flow.”
After the explanation, NBC then showed the player-caddie duo laughing and hugging it out on the practice green.
Wallace does have a slight history with caddies. Back in 2019, when in contention at the BMW International Open, Wallace found the water at the very last hole in the very last round. This prompted him to berate his then caddie, Dave McNeill, with the golfer receiving some backlash for it on social media.
In 2021, Wallace featured in a viral video created by the DP World Tour called: "European Tour Golfers In Anger Management Group Therapy". In the video, Wallace is seen talking to a number of caddies who are lined up around the practice green, with the four-time DP World Tour winner uttering the words "you're a great guy. I'm sorry. It's not you, it's me".
