Bailey Shoemaker went viral for the wrong reason at the Augusta National Women's Amateur, but she's hit back as she explained the reasons behind that 75-second clip.
Slow play alarms were triggered when a social media clip of shoemaker taking well over a minute to hit a shot at Champions Retreat surfaced after the first round of the ANWA.
Plenty of critics piled on, while commentators claiming it was "part of her pre-shot routine" hardly helped matters - as clearly from the aborted backswings it was something deeper.
Painfully aware of the criticism she's had, Shoemaker hit back when speaking to Golf.com's Claire Rogers in Augusta, saying: "You think I want to do it intentionally? Of course not.”
It turns out the 21-year-old University of Southern California junior has had surgery recently on a nerve problem in her elbow, and after playing through pain for seven months there's still some mental hurdles in completing a swing that surface at times.
“I’ve been battling injury for over a year now, and so I’ve got some things bugging me,” she told to Golf.com.
“But when you have nerve surgery, you aren’t in control.
“It doesn’t matter what my brain says or does - you think I want to do it intentionally? Of course not.”
Shoemaker was described by her USC coach Justin Silverstein - who Golf Monthly spoke to last year - as “one of the fastest players I’ve ever coached” before her injury.
And she insisted that she was much better in the second round than the first - and that naturally enough the clip that went viral captured her worst moment of the day.
“It was better today," Shoemaker added. "And, I mean, that was the worst one yesterday, of course it went viral.
“You clearly don’t see the rest of the round. You don’t see me at home working out five hours a day, going to rehab, waking up before practice to go to rehab. You don’t see what’s behind the scenes.”
“This is part of her routine” I would have already been on the green waiting before she pulled the trigger. pic.twitter.com/U7txlQZQRPApril 1, 2026
Shoemaker, who says she feared she'd never play golf competitively again due to the injury, has not taken the social media furore to heart despite the obvious frustration at just one bad swing being highlighted.
“If anything it was fuel," she insisted. "I mean, my dad has trained me right, to use that as fuel to ignite me a little bit. But I didn’t pay too much mind to it.
"I mean, I’m happy where I am, and I’m making leaps and bounds in my health, and that’s all I really care about.”
“This is part of her routine” I would have already been on the green waiting before she pulled the trigger. pic.twitter.com/U7txlQZQRPApril 1, 2026
Plenty of comments online jumped the gun about Shoemaker, claiming it was unfair on her playing partners and could ruin the tournament.
But as Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek reported from Augusta, while Shoemaker didn't make the cut, her two playing partners did with a combined 10 under and their group was never put on the clock - even having to wait for the group in front which was.
Overall there's a huge lesson in context and fact checking to be learned here for some.
