Less than a week after being praised for their ability to root for the Knicks, New York sports fans are being lambasted for their antics at the U.S. Open.
Wyndham Clark won his second U.S. Open Sunday afternoon, overcoming the challenging course at Shinnecock Hills, and the more unexpected challenge that came from the hostile crowd on Long Island. Clark has repeatedly apologized for his outburst at Oakmont after missing the U.S. Open cut last year. But the hostility directed at Clark over the weekend seemed less about his past transgressions, and more about Long Island having some of the worst fans in golf. So bad that Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch believes Long Island should be barred from hosting another PGA event in the future.
“The PGA of America is supposed to go back to Bethpage in 2033 with the PGA Championship. That should not happen. These people do not deserve a major championship.”
“Maybe golf in its entirety needs to take the Augusta National model. No phones, no tolerance, no second chance.”… pic.twitter.com/tPniWekVTE
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 22, 2026
“Long Island golf fans are a stain on the game of golf,” Lynch ranted Monday morning. “That’s what we saw at Bethpage, it’s what we see every single time we go to Long Island.”
What we saw at Bethpage refers to last September’s Ryder Cup, where New York golf fans similarly exposed themselves. Some attempted to blame the hostile crowds at Bethpage on the intense partisan nature of the event. But the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills proved Long Island’s hostility wasn’t limited to the Ryder Cup.
“It happens on Long Island every single time,” Lynch continued, insisting the issue is specific to Long Island, not New York. “Long Island fans are a particularly hardcore bunch. And what we saw at Bethpage last year – I’ve argued on this show that the PGA of America is supposed to go back to Bethpage in 2033 with the PGA Championship. That should not happen. These people do not deserve a major championship out there because we have now gotten to this era where it is so repetitive, so predictable as a component.”
Long Island can root for the NBA Finals and the FIFA World Cup, but maybe having the U.S. Open out East in the same week was too much. Lynch went on to claim the problem fans are “the drunk crypto bros who buy a ticket with daddy’s credit card and they’ve gone through life without ever being slapped for something they’ve said.” And Lynch wants the PGA to issue that slap by never returning to Long Island again.
