Hideki Matsuyama: Ian Poulter Calls Golfer An ‘Idiot’ For Leaving Gash In The Green

Hideki Matsuyama and Ian Poulter probably won’t be having drinks together at the country club after the next golf tournament, especially after an insulting exchange went public on Twitter. But exactly did the golfer do to be called an idiot?

In a related report by The Inquisitr, if you’re looking for amusing golf stories, try checking out how President Obama went golfing where the movie Caddyshack was filmed. Then again, nothing can beat Arnold Palmer and Kate Upton making golf look sexy.

The incident involving Hideki Matsuyama apparently started when the golfer missed a seven-foot putt and then slammed his putter in the ground, leaving a small gash in the green. But he didn’t stop to clean up himself or repair the damage. Although Poulter wasn’t directly effected by the damage, another golfer named Charl Schwartzel had his 12-foot putt blocked by the gash. Officials did fix the gash in the green before Schwartzel took his turn, so in truth no harm was done.

But Ian Poulter was apparently disturbed enough by the incident to tell his 1.6 million followers on Twitter all about it:

“Playing with Matsuyama tomo. He buried his putter in the 13th green 5 ft from the hole, Referee had to repair the crater. Because he didn’t. Why should Matsuyama leave a crater in the green for others to putt over, or have to call a referee to repair the damage. Idiot. I’m no saint & first to say. But that was disgusting. I wouldn’t bury a putter in a green 5 ft from a hole & have players behind deal with it.”

After hearing about what Poulter said, Matsuyama apologized in person, saying:

“I heard about it this morning, I felt really bad. All I can do is apologize for what happened. I feel badly that he even had to write about something I had done…. I felt a responsibility to seek them out and apologize to them directly. They were in the threesome directly behind us. It didn’t affect my preparation today. I felt like it was something I should do. Hopefully, I learned I need to be more patient. In the future, I’ll try my best to be a good professional.”

Do you think Ian Poulter was right to call out Hideki Matsuyama so publicly?