Nico Echavarria had enough to deal with facing Scottie Scheffler in singles Sunday at the Presidents Cup.
He didn’t need a fan yelling in his backswing. Scheffler didn’t approve, either.
Echavarria, three down through 13 holes against the world No. 1, was teeing off on the par-4 14th when someone in the gallery yelled, “Go Scottie!” as Echavarria took back his club. The Colombian proceeded to slice his drive and drop his club.
As Echavarria stared in the direction of the offending voice, Scheffler came to his opponent’s defense saying, “There’s no place for that.”
A classy move from Scottie Scheffler.
— PGA Tour (@PGATour) September 27, 2026
After a fell yelled in Nico's swing, Scottie conceded a 32-footer to tie the hole. pic.twitter.com/CL6w1fl52s
Scheffler was more than just vocal. With Echavarria eventually facing 32 feet for a ‘4', Scheffler conceded the par. They tied the hole when Scheffler failed to make birdie.
After the two tied the 15th hole as well, Echavarria holed a 64-footer from the rough for birdie at the par-3 16th. He then shushed the crowd before Scheffler missed his 14-footer to tie the hole.
Scheffler, however, closed out the match one hole later with a two-putt par and a 2-and-1 victory.
“To be honest with you, I don’t even really want to talk about it,” Scheffler told NBC’s Cara Banks when she inquired about the incident and the concession. “I think there’s no real place for that in our game. I think we just leave it at that.”
After the U.S. captured the cup, 17-13, Scheffler was again asked about what happened on the 14th hole, during the team press conference.
“There’s just no place for that. I was very frustrated. It was honestly a big distraction, I think for me, just because we compete and work so hard to put ourselves in these moments. When you have some fan who decides to insert himself into the tournament, you can say, I think, whatever you want to players, but I think there’s an amount of respect there. You should get about 30 seconds when you’re over the ball and hitting your shot or getting ready for your shot where fans are pretty silent,” he said.
“It just didn’t really sit well with me. He would never hit a shot as poorly as he hit, I think, off the 14th if there wasn’t a fan yelling in his swing. It was just very frustrating. I don’t really want to talk about it all that much. It was frustrating.”
