Fowler explains Leeds decision that led to Open heckler calling him a 'coward'
Rickie Fowler has opened up on why he opted to pull out the 49ers Enterprises takeover of Leeds United, after he was heckled by a golf fan at the Open Championship.
Fowler is in action at Royal Liverpool for this week's Open, and found himself at the brunt of one fan's frustrations during his opening round. The PGA Tour star was called a 'coward' by one spectator, as he made his way down one of the fairways at Hoylake.
A video of the incident soon went viral on social media, and it appeared the fan was left disgruntled with Fowler due to his decision to not join fellow golfers in Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in investing in Leeds.
The spectator in question - who appeared to be a Leeds fan - was heard shouting: "Rickie what happened to the 49ers investment? Come on Leeds! Coward!"
The 49ers takeover of the recently relegated Championship club was agreed earlier this week without Fowler.
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Asked whether there would be any chance of Fowler being involved in the deal later down the line, he said: "No, no, that's already all done. Hopefully it all works out with JT and Jordan being involved." Fowler went on to reveal that he decided to pull away from the investment on financial advice.
"My financial team just didn't necessarily advise for it, so we decided to not go forward with it. But I hope they play well and kind of get things turned around because I know JT and Jordan would be very happy with that."
Rickie Fowler was heckled at The Open (Getty Images for HSBC)The PGA Tour star also discussed his altercation with the heckler on Thursday, admitting he had never come across anything like it before. "That may be one of the first [hecklers]that maybe became public," the 34-year-old commented on Friday.
"There might be some other ones out there, but yeah, it is what it is. I'll take it." While Fowler is absent from the Leeds deal, two faces who are of course involved are Thomas and Spieth. The pair confirmed their involvement at last week's Scottish Open.
On the back of their investment, three-time major champion Spieth is hoping to see Leeds return to the Premier League soon. He said: "It's done. Myself and Justin [Thomas] with a minority stake. The 49ers beat my Cowboys every year, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
“They [49ers] renegotiated after relegation and it was possibly a better deal - as long as they can get promoted soon. I'm excited to have a team I'm emotionally invested in. I've watched The Premier League intently for a few years. Hopefully we'll be back there very soon.”
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