Leishman's wife criticizes fan behavior at Prez Cup

In the wake of a decisive U.S. victory at the Presidents Cup, Audrey Leishman believes that the fans walking the grounds at Liberty National Golf Club could have cleaned up their act.

Leishman’s husband, Marc, won the BMW Championship last month and qualified to represent the International team at the biennial matches for the third straight event. Audrey, who herself is an American, penned an essay on her personal blog to question some of the negative fan behavior and jeers she heard while walking the course in support of her Aussie husband.

“There were many times last week that I thought about what the kids were seeing,” Leishman wrote. “The crowds were booing for good shots and cheering for missed putts. The drinking at 7am? Screaming ‘Big Easy’ to Ernie Els and begging for his autograph and then yelling at his players. Heckling a wife for her beauty and then her husband for his play. I was thankful my boys weren’t there to see the way people were treating their daddy. Their hero.”

After nearly clinching the cup before the final day of matches, the U.S. went on to win, 19-11, for their seventh straight victory over the International squad.

Audrey Leishman’s post included a video of Canadian Adam Hadwin hitting the opening tee shot of a match, with the pre-shot silence broken only by a fan in the gallery screaming, “Get in the water!” It also referenced an interview with Daniel Berger after his Saturday fourball win, when he said, “I hope that we close them out today and we go out tomorrow and just beat them even worse.”

“The fans felt the same way,” she wrote. “I wonder why when that’s what they witnessed…”

She added that the animosity finally tapered off on Sunday, with the outcome of the event no longer in doubt, at which point fans returned to “yelling for autographs and pictures” from the International players.

“Golf is truly a gentleman’s sport,” Leishman wrote. “But last week was not the golf I know.”

Leishman’s post drew social media praise from both sides on Tour, including Presidents Cup participant Anirban Lahiri and American James Hahn:

Unfortunate but true. https://t.co/aW5062YZ5f

— Anirban Lahiri (@anirbangolf) October 5, 2017

Sad but very true.Hard to watch on TV so decided to turn it off.Thanks for the courage to write this article Audrey. https://t.co/gcTMcwtA80

— James Hahn (@JamesHahnPGA) October 5, 2017