{"id":43266,"date":"2026-07-28T01:08:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/43266\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T01:08:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:08:35","slug":"a-new-list-of-the-most-hated-golfers-of-2026-includes-some-obvious-choices-and-some-surprises-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/43266\/","title":{"rendered":"A new list of the most hated golfers of 2026 includes some obvious choices…and some surprises \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Photo: Alex Slitz]<\/p>\n

Look, we\u2019re in the content game. We applaud most of the golfers on this list making headlines\u2014that is usually good for business. When Bryson DeChambeau\u2019s rules situation went viral at the British Open, it brought us insane engagement on our social handles, views on our website, all that. Hatred is one of the strongest human emotions, and golf is no stranger to it.<\/p>\n

So when we saw this list published recently by Rotowire, it was intriguing. It matches a lot of the \u2018content kings\u2019 who bring a ton of engagement our way.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll run down the top 10 in reverse chronological order \u2026 again because we\u2019re content people. There were only a few surprises to us:<\/p>\n

10. Tyrrell Hatton <\/p>\n

\"2286545566\"\/<\/p>\n

[Photo: Michael Reaves]<\/p>\n

We would\u2019ve assumed golf\u2019s angriest star would be beloved by many for his cheeky comments and emotional outbursts\u2014especially by fans in the United Kingdom, who have rooted him on in Ryder Cup victories. But Hatton it seems like he\u2019s making headlines nearly every time he plays, so maybe folks are getting fed up with his antics.<\/p>\n

9. Billy Horschel<\/p>\n

One of golf\u2019s fieriest competitors has been rather quiet recently, so he was a surprise to see on this list. Especially since he never made a Ryder Cup, famously being snubbed in 2014 before the Americans got drubbed at Gleneagles, so the Europeans have never been rooting against him. We\u2019d guess his fast-talking outspokenness rubs some people the wrong way.<\/p>\n

8. Sergio Garcia \"2279518936\"\/<\/p>\n

[Photo: Octavio Passos]<\/p>\n

This one was not necessarily a surprise, given Sergio\u2019s legacy in the Ryder Cup, leading the way for Europe with the most points ever by an individual. If this list was published more in the prime of Sergio\u2019s career, we\u2019d bet he\u2019d be in the top three.<\/p>\n

7. Matt Kuchar<\/p>\n

Proof that golf fans don\u2019t forget. This is a shocker on the surface, given the fact Kuchar\u2019s relevance has drifted of late, playing in just 13 PGA Tour events in 2026. But he is a complicated figure for golf fans\u2014given his apparent snubbing of the caddie in Mexico when he won the Mayakoba in 2018. That was nearly 10 years ago! Then, of course, there was the bizarre finish at the Wyndham Championship in 2024, when Kuchar refused to finish in the dark, forcing tournament organizers to extend the event into Monday \u2026 just for him.<\/p>\n

6. Patrick Cantlay \"2284751579\"\/ <\/p>\n

[Photo: Tracy Wilcox]<\/p>\n

Another one of golf\u2019s complicated figures, Patrick Cantlay has caught the ire of golf fans on more than one occasion. It\u2019s tough to say whether his slow play or \u201chat gate\u201d from the 2023 Ryder Cup has a bigger impact on his ranking here. But the reality is that they are both big elements that, again, golf fans won\u2019t forget.<\/p>\n

RELATED: The best drivers for mid-handicap golfers<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Phil Mickelson<\/p>\n

One of golf\u2019s most beloved figures for nearly the entirety of his career, Mickelson\u2019s legacy has taken a hit in recent years\u2014first with the LIV and anti-PGA Tour stuff, then recently with the alleged inappropriate contact at a club where he was kicked out in his hometown. For golf fans who rooted for him hard across three decades, this is a tough one to reconcile.<\/p>\n

4. Wyndham Clark \"2285833790\"\/<\/p>\n

[Photo: Tracy Wilcox]<\/p>\n

If you would\u2019ve asked us during US Open week, we would\u2019ve expected him to land No. 1 on this list. The way he was treated by American golf fans at our country\u2019s national championship is still tough to believe. But after witnessing those actions, it\u2019s not tough to believe he\u2019s in the top five on this list.<\/p>\n

3. Rory McIlroy<\/p>\n

This is a tough one to fully believe. Rory McIlroy seems to be beloved by most golf fans, so the fact he\u2019s the third-most hated golfer in the world is one we\u2019ll doubt. Rotowire interviewed 750 golfers for this survey \u2026 I bet if you went up to tens of thousands of people at a golf event and asked them who their favourite golfer was, McIlroy would probably be the most popular answer. Sure, he\u2019s very famous for flip-flopping his opinions with regularity, but hated by the masses \u2026 that\u2019s a tough one to believe.<\/p>\n

2. Bryson DeChambeau <\/p>\n

\"2260109885\"\/<\/p>\n

[Photo: Francois Nel]<\/p>\n

Golf\u2019s No. 1 content king has really had a love\/hate relationship with fans. After his US Open win at Pinehurst, it seemed he had the golf world a string\u2014and he had finally gotten in the good graces with fans. Things can change quickly. Bryson can conjure up a lot of emotion with whatever he does, with the rules fiasco at the Open<\/a> being the latest thing. He\u2019s golf\u2019s most interesting person, and we can\u2019t get enough of him making headlines\u2014like we said at the top, we love it for business reasons and also for entertainment.<\/p>\n

1. Patrick Reed <\/p>\n

\"2286377268\"\/<\/p>\n

[Photo: Michael Reaves]<\/p>\n

Captain America has always been a villain in golf\u2014and we sneaky love him for it. The top-five golfer in the world comment, the shush at Gleneagles, his caddie (and brother-in-law) getting in a fight at the Presidents Cup, the rules situations, the stories from college \u2026 they all add up to being a truly complicated figure. And yeah, this isn\u2019t necessarily a surprising one, though we love Patrick Reed as another content goat next to Bryson. We need them both back on the next Ryder Cup team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: Alex Slitz] Look, we\u2019re in the content game. We applaud most of the golfers on this list…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[459,87,44,1871,81,1747,1193,144,1482,399,424],"class_list":["post-43266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-article","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-golf","tag-golf-rankings","tag-liv-golf","tag-patrick-cantlay","tag-patrick-reed","tag-pga-tour","tag-phil-mickelson","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-wyndham-clark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}