Lucas Glover has spoken out as a golf storm erupted after the former major player took off his shoes on Sunday at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota.
The 2009 U.S. Open champion raised eyebrows on the 10th hole when he took off his shoes to retrieve his ball out of the cup.
The commentators suggested that Glover did so in protest of AimPoint’s green-reading technique – an increasingly popular method of reading greens -something Glover has been critical of in the past.
“Statistically, [AimPoint] hasn’t helped anybody make more putts since its inception on the PGA Tour,” Glover told co-hosts Mac Barnhardt and Taylor Zarzour during an episode of his SiriusXM radio show last year.
“Statistics have borne that out. It’s also kind of rude to be up near the hole, stomping around figuring out where the break is on your feet. It needs to be banned. It takes forever.”
As a result, social media was abuzz with the golfer’s alleged protest.
“Lucas Glover protesting Aimpoint,” GOLF.com wrote on X.
“Lucas Glover is ABSOLUTELY finished with Aimpoint. Man’s out here stomping round the hole like it owes him money,” another added.
“LMAO Lucas Glover REALLY hates Aimpoint! This is hilarious. He is sick of guys stomping all over the hole, so he did a mini protest here. Put me on team Glover. Rooting for him from now on,” Rick Golf said.
But while Glover has made no secret of the fact he isn’t a fan of the AimPoint technique, Sunday’s incident reportedly had nothing to do with that.
Glover responded to the social media account Flushing It after they also insinuated he was protesting AimPoint.
According to Glover, his bizarre reaction was because some people had complained about his metal spikes.
“No not even close. Nothing to do with Aimpoint actually,” he said.
“Complaints behind me about spike marks. I wear metal. Someone in the group ahead of us was too. Singled me out. Just goofing off.”
PGA Tour pro Michael Kim also explained the issue on X.
“The real backstory … someone with metal spikes wasn’t walking cleanly creating some bad spike marks and some player or players complained about it to rules officials, thinking it was Lucas. Officials told him about it and that’s the reaction,” he said.
Glover finished the tournament in a tie for 57th and left the Twin Cities, presumably with shoes on.