From #SB2K16 to a Donald Trump feud, Paulina-DJ vacays to Tiger at career day, here are the best social media moments from 2016.
The vacation seen ‘round the golf world. Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman jetted down to the Bahamas for shirtless golf, fishing on the beach and, of course, plenty of Snapchat filters. Click here for the story.
After the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50 in what was Peyton Manning’s final NFL game, Jordan Spieth took to Twitter to congratulate the legendary QB on a great career, while poking fun at his own baldness in the process. Click here for the story.
Long before he was president-elect, Donald Trump found himself in a feud with Samuel L. Jackson that just wouldn’t end. It started with Jackson claiming that Trump cheats at golf and that Trump charged him membership dues at his golf club even though Jackson wasn’t a member. Trump fired back, saying he didn’t even know who Jackson was before calling him boring before challenging him to a charity match. To our knowledge, the match has yet to happen. Click here for the story.
In October, Justin Thomas posted a Photoshopped picture to Instagram showing some larger-than-life muscles. A short time after at the Safeway Open, Thomas claimed he was drug tested by the PGA Tour. Coincidence? JT didn’t think so. Click here for the story.
Danny Willett slipped on the green jacket in April after Jordan Spieth’s back-nine Sunday collapse, and one guy couldn’t be happier. That guy was Willett’s brother, P.J., who happened to be hilariously live-tweeting the final round. Highlights included P.J. reminiscing about punching his brother in the head for hurting his pet rat and getting on Spieth for playing slow. Click here for the story.
While Tiger Woods was recovering from multiple back surgeries, he made some time in September to stop by career day at his daughter’s school. The 14-time major winner spoke to Sam’s third-grade class, answered questions, and posed for pictures that eventually ended up on Twitter. Click here for the story.
In March, one heckler found out the hard way not to mess with Ian Poulter. After pestering him at the Valspar and then bragging about it on Twitter, Poulter alerted the man’s employer and he was promptly fired. A similar situation unfolded in December but that man was able to keep his job. Click here for the story.
After withdrawing from the Olympics, Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky went on vacation and posted some photos on Instagram, something that didn’t sit very well with Internet trolls. Gretzky took notice and put the trolls on blast, defending her fiance’s decision and work ethic in the comments. Click here for the story.
After Phil Mickelson’s record-tying 63 on Thursday at the Open Championship, several pundits couldn’t help but remark on how “old” the four-time major champion was. At 46, he would’ve become the second-oldest Open winner. Of course, Mickelson’s older sister didn’t appreciate the talk and took to Twitter to express how she felt. Click here for the story.
Does Tiger Woods skip leg day? Rory McIlroy seems to think so. While the rest of the world was focused on Tiger’s swing in the 13-second clip he tweeted in February to show his progression as he recovered from multiple back surgeries, McIlroy responded with a joke about Tiger’s tiny calf muscles. Click here for the story.
Rory McIlroy has been known to hit the gym, something that concerns Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee. When Chamblee voiced his opinion on the subject, McIlroy responded loud and clear without saying a word. A simple tweet of him squatting quite a bit of weight was all that was needed to drive his point home. Click here for the story.
Interacting with random Instagram commenters generally doesn’t end well, but Lexi Thompson fired back at two of them after being criticized in May for for not focusing enough on golf. Her response was good enough to elicit apologies from both commenters. Click here for the story.
The clip that gave birth to ‘Beef.’ After winning the Spanish Open, Andrew Johnston told reporters he was going to ‘get hammered.’ The clip went viral and about a week later he kept his word, surfacing in a epic Twitter video singing, dancing, drinking and celebrating the win. Click here for the story.
In September at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Rickie Fowler was called out on Twitter for not signing autographs, a claim that Fowler disputed, because he actually did sign for 20 minutes after his round. Fowler’s fans, including Justin Thomas, backed him up. Click here for the story.
In April at Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Rickie Fowler appeared on stage with country music superstar Dierks Bentley and shotgunned a couple beers in front of thousands of screaming fans. Videos of the event appeared on just about every social media platform, confirming that Fowler’s life is pretty decent. Click here for the story.
At the Dean & DeLuca Invitational in May, Tony Finau hit an errant drive that struck a fan in the head. So what does a stand-up guy like Finau do? Buy the young lady flowers and chocolate and stop by her house, of course. Click here for the story.
In March at the Valspar Championship, Jordan Spieth made the mistake of looking at social media comments, and he couldn’t help but respond. The two-time major champ fired back at one commenter who called his game “average” if his putter isn’t clicking. Spieth called out the ‘troll’ telling them to ‘do some research before hating’ in a since-deleted response. Click here for the story.