Fitzpatrick Warns Gambling-Fueled Fan Abuse Threatens Golf’s Integrity at Royal Birkdale

As legalized sports betting expands across the United States, its corrosive effects are spreading through grandstands nationwide, and golf has not been spared. While athletes in other sports have faced sanctions for wagering on their own competitions, the primary threat in golf stems from the galleries.

The issue extends beyond the ropes, affecting players both on and off the course, as Matt Fitzpatrick detailed during his 2026 Open Championship press conference at Royal Birkdale.

The former U.S. Open champion identified two distinct avenues through which sports gambling is becoming a “problem” in golf: direct verbal abuse directed at players and spectators attempting to manipulate outcomes.

Fitzpatrick on Betting’s Impact: ‘It’s Definitely Becoming a Problem’

Fitzpatrick is enjoying a career resurgence in 2026. After years of frustration following his breakthrough 2022 U.S. Open victory, the 31-year-old Englishman has climbed to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking, fueled by three PGA Tour victories and two runner-up finishes this season.

This week, he targets a second major title and a first Open victory on home soil. However, on Monday, he voiced concern that spectators may attempt to influence play—if not this week, then at future professional events.

“For me, it’s definitely becoming a problem,” Fitzpatrick stated when questioned about sports gambling’s intersection with the sport during his press conference at Royal Birkdale.

He specifically highlighted how “easy” it would be for fans to alter the result of a wager by heckling professionals during their swings or putting strokes.

“The issue is, particularly in golf, it would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it’s shouting on someone’s backswing or during a putting stroke. It’s really easy,” Fitzpatrick explained. “Obviously that is really hard to monitor, but it is definitely an issue.”

Fitzpatrick’s fears are not hypothetical. The problem may have already surfaced at one of this year’s majors.

During the final round of the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Wyndham Clark endured relentless heckling en route to victory, with galleries audibly rooting against him. While the hostility may have stemmed from Clark’s own conduct, Jordan Spieth offered a different perspective at the John Deere Classic, suggesting that wagers placed against Clark fueled the abuse.

“I don’t know how much of the Wyndham Clark scenario at the 2026 U.S. Open was driven by the fact that it was enticing to bet the field versus Wyndham on a Sunday in a legalized betting state,” Spieth said. “You could have had people out there with $100 to $10,000 on the field versus somebody else. In golf, it’s tricky because you could actually impact the outcome if you wanted to. It may not last very long, but you could impact a shot. I don’t know of another sport where a fan can influence the result like they can in golf. So I don’t know how much that’s having to do with it, if it’s different than it used to be.”

Over the past year, Fitzpatrick has been the target of several high-profile incidents of spectator abuse.

Most notably, he was a member of the European Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black, where the harassment directed at him and his teammates during their victorious campaign left a lasting impression. Residual hostility from that event may have contributed to the treatment Fitzpatrick received at the Players Championship and the RBC Heritage this year, where fans openly rooted against him as he contended with American Ryder Cup stars Cameron Young and Scottie Scheffler.

On Monday, however, Fitzpatrick addressed a broader, more insidious trend plaguing professional sports: athletes harassed on social media over lost wagers.

“You just look at all the messages people get—footballers, tennis players, you name it, everyone’s getting messages saying, ‘You missed that penalty; you cost me this. You didn’t make a birdie; cost me this,'” Fitzpatrick said.

He asserted that every professional golfer has received gambling-related abuse at some point in their career, warning that such behavior would likely be visible this week at the Open Championship.

“I’ve had my fair share. I would say every golfer that’s played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone related to gambling. I mean, you could see it this week,” Fitzpatrick argued. “You go and type in a player’s name who maybe isn’t playing well, or someone who’s favored to play well, you type the name into Twitter and you’ll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse.”

While Fitzpatrick acknowledged placing a small, traditional wager on England to win the World Cup with a friend, he insisted he does not “condone gambling in the slightest” and would never harass a player over a result.

“It’s difficult because I’ve had 20 quid on England to win the World Cup, but at the same time, if it doesn’t come in, I’m not going to send a message to Harry Kane and be like, ‘Why did you play rubbish?’ There’s obviously individuals that have that problem,” Fitzpatrick said. “I don’t know, obviously I don’t condone gambling in the slightest. It doesn’t—it’s not really for me. It’s a thing that me and my mate do every World Cup and Euros, that’s it.”

Should England defeat Argentina and reach the World Cup final on Sunday, Fitzpatrick will almost certainly be focused on the Claret Jug—and the $3.2 million winner’s share that accompanies it—rather than his nominal World Cup stake.

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