A disgusting porta potty mess at a recent PGA event in South Carolina has given golf fans a mid-week mystery to crack as the tour ramps up for this month’s PGA Championship.
The inside dirt was shared online by PGA’s Michael S. Kim, who described something of a Fred Funk emanating from the toilets at last month’s RBC Heritage event on Hilton Head Island.
‘There are player/caddie only porta potties near tee boxes,’ Kim wrote on X. ‘One caddie went to use one on Thursday morning and in the corner of the porta potty, sees a pair of boxer briefs with some [poop emoji].
‘They tried to find out who it was but couldn’t figure it out,’ he added.
There was one suspect, but as Kim explained, that individual has since been exonerated.
‘The briefs were a brand that had a brand ambassador but it was proven that it wasn’t him lol,’ Kim wrote.
Kim lines up a put at the RBC Heritage, where one golfer or caddy had a bathroom incident
The inside dirt was shared online by PGA’s Michael S. Kim, who described something of a Fred Funk emanating from the toilets at last month’s RBC Heritage event on Hilton Head Island
Fan reactions ranged from the humorous (‘thank stinks’) to the constructive.
‘Mike,’ one wrote in response. ‘Not sure who is running lead on the investigation but I’d like to recommend looking to see if anyone withdrew during or after Thursdays (sic) round citing an illness.’
Alas, nobody withdrew from the event, which was won by Justin Thomas at -17 for the tournament.
This is hardly the sport’s first high-profile bathroom incident.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington made a mid-round sprint for a porta potty during a 2023 Champions Tour event at PGA Frisco – something he blamed on his advancing age.
‘I went in the toilet,’ said Harrington, who was 51 at the time. ‘The door was locked. Took me a few minutes to realize there wasn’t somebody in there, another while to get the door open.
‘As we are on the Champions Tour, I had the longest pee ever. And then I kind of rushed down the fairway and hit my shot.’
The incident described by Kim played out at the recent RBC Heritage in South Carolina
Unfortunately for Harrington, that approach shot landed in the penalty area. He would finish the hole with a double-bogey 6.
‘So, when you get over 50, it sometimes takes a long time to have a pee,’ Harrington said. ‘That’s my excuse. That’s got to be original, I would assume.’
There was another incident at this year’s Masters, where Spanish amateur Jose Luis Ballester urinated into Rae’s Creek at the 13th. The situation nearly resulted in a punishment for the 21-year-old, who claimed to have forgotten about the bathrooms located nearby.
‘I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box,’ an unrepentant Ballester explained after he was caught in the act.
‘I really needed to pee. I didn’t really know where to go…I’m like, I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much, and then they clapped for me.’
He has since apologized to Augusta National and told reporters that he hopes to ‘just move on from this moment.’
