Rahm angry about television at 2023 PGA Championship

World number one Jon Rahm was furious when ESPN staff got too close while he struggled to recover in the rain on the eighth hole of round three of the PGA Championship major.

The Major, hosted by the Professional Golfers Association of America, is being played on the par-70 East Course at Oak Hill Country Club in New York. After two rounds, Rahm is at +4, one stroke above the cut line.

In round 3 on May 20, Rahm started from hole 1. After two holes, his score dropped to +6 due to two consecutive bogeys. In the next five holes, he "broke even" when a birdie on hole 4 made up for a bogey on hole 5, and the rest were pars.

So Rahm was still +6 on the par-4 eighth hole, where the new Masters champion hit into tall, thick rough on the right side of the fairway, and it was pouring rain.

As Rahm prepared for his second shot, an ESPN cameraman approached, inadvertently causing him to explode in anger that had built up in the tense situation.

Rahm during a fit with ESPN cameramen. — Rahm during a fit with *ESPN* cameramen.

"Don't point the camera at me when I'm mad. Give me some space to work," Rahm yelled at the ESPN cameraman. After a harsh word, Rahm returned to practice, continuing to bogey for four more shots to finish the job.

Three holes earlier, Rahm had hit his club into a microphone after an unsatisfactory chip from behind the green on the fifth hole. On the Golf Channel , Rahm said he did not remember the incident.

In round 2, Rahm also cursed because he was frustrated by the professional demands from the Organizing Committee. Although he hit the green, the ball rolled into the rough at the par-3 11th hole.

Rahm wasn’t the only one losing his cool at the PGA Championship. Over the past three days, ESPN has caught Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth swearing like Rahm in difficult situations, while Taylor Moore, after a hole, threw his club so hard that it bounced several times and landed in the rough.

Yesterday, Rahm bogeyed holes 8 to 10. But in the rest of the stretch, he had three birdies and the rest were pars. Thanks to that, he kept his +6 at the end of the penultimate round. With that result, Rahm lost all hope of competing for the cup because he was T42, 12 strokes away from the top of the table. The top spot belongs to Brooks Koepka (-6), followed by Viktor Hovland and Corey Conners both at T2 (-5). The remaining group with a chance to compete for the championship includes Bryson DeChambeau -3, Justin Rose and Scottie Scheffler both -2 and Rory McIlroy -1.

This situation evokes a scenario of a professional competition on the major arena between LIV Golf League representatives - Koepka and DeChambeau with PGA Tour stars, similar to the Masters in April. At the first event of the prestigious quartet, the PGA Tour side "won", when Rahm won the championship at -12, Koepka and LIV Golf colleague Phil Mickelson finished T2 (-8), Hovland finished T7 (-6), Scheffler finished T10 (-4).

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