Officials apologize after crowd surges to celebrate Phil Mickelson’s PGA Championship win - The Washington Post

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The swarm that engulfed Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka as they made their way up the 18th fairway on Sunday at the PGA Championship made for an entertaining visual, but not everyone was happy with the chaotic situation. Mickelson, whose impending victory was the source of the excitement, called the situation “unnerving” after his round, while Koepka — who had major knee surgery two months ago — said he took some bumps from the fans at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C.

“Yeah, it would have been cool if I didn’t have a knee injury,” Koepka said. “Got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no one really gave a s---, personally. But if I was fine, yeah, it would have been cool. It’s cool for Phil. But getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun.”

On Monday, PGA Chief Executive Officer Seth Waugh issued an apology for the lack of crowd control.

“While we welcome enthusiastic fan engagement, we regret that a moment of high elation and pent-up emotion by spectators during the conclusion of yesterday’s historic PGA Championship briefly overwhelmed security and made two players and their caddies feel vulnerable,” Waugh said in a statement. “We always put player safety at the top of our list and are grateful order was restored. I have spoken to both players and apologized on behalf of the Association.”

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the PGA of America had announced a capacity cap of 10,000 fans per day at this year’s tournament, the largest allowed crowd for professional golf since it returned from its pandemic pause last June. It’s unclear just how big the crowd was on Sunday, however, with ESPN’s Bob Harig (who was on site) calling it “considerably larger” than 10,000 throughout the tournament.

Koepka also said Sunday that “somebody jammed” his caddie, Ricky Elliott, in the mob scene on the 18th fairway.

“Ricky stopped unintentionally because he got drilled in the face, and then I got hit because he got stopped so quickly. There were so many people around,” Koepka said.

The scene Sunday seemingly was a more chaotic version of what happened at the 2018 Tour Championship, when Tiger Woods won a PGA Tour event for the first time in more than five years. The crowds at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta surged over the ropes to follow Woods up the 18th fairway.

“I happen to be standing next to a police officer,” Roger Maltbie, who was on the course for NBC Sports that day, told PGATour.com’s Cameron Morfit in 2019. “And he says, ‘Oh, man, what are we gonna do now?’ I gave him the quote that Dave Marr used to say years ago, which was, ‘Once a dog gets out from under the porch, it’s real hard to get him to go back under there.’ ”

Tournament organizers at East Lake eventually were able to use rope to keep the crowd from completely engulfing Woods and playing partner Rory McIlroy that day, keeping the fans about 50 yards short of the green.

No one was injured in that particular stampede.

“It’s a little different going through all those people with a bag on your shoulder,” Woods’s caddie, Joe LaCava, told Morfit. “I think Tiger enjoyed it, he had a little smirk on his face. He and Rory each had a local cop, so I think they felt pretty secure, and I went past them to get ahead of the crowd.”

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