He poked the bear’ – Scottie Scheffler and Team USA hit back at ‘disrespectful’ rival as Presidents Cup tension boils over

Tom Kim was made to rue antagonising the best golfer in the world at the Presidents Cup on Thursday.

The South Korean was at the centre of a heated fourball match against world no.1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley when tensions boiled over.

Over a series of flashpoints, Kim was accused of ‘disrespect’ and felt the full wrath of Scheffler in response.

It began on the seventh hole when Kim wildly celebrated a long birdie putt, only for Scheffler to match it and let his rival know.

“What was that? Huh!?,” the usually-measured Scheffler screamed at Kim.

But the most controversial incident of the day came at the eighth hole.

Kim pulled off a 30-foot putt for birdie, leading to another big celebration.

Scheffler then picked Kim’s ball out of the hole and handed it to him, refusing to look at him in the process.

While Scheffler was lining up his birdie putt to tie the hole, Kim and Im walked straight over to the ninth tee, a move that was instigated by International assistant captain Camilo Villegas.

That is strongly against golf etiquette, and discussing the incident on commentary, ex-Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley said: “Wow, that is bordering on bad behavior, that is disrespectful in my opinion.

“I know it’s competitive out there, but it shows you an underlying edge here that it’s not all fun and games.”

According to reports, American assistant captain Kevin Kisner confronted Villegas over the gesture and said: “That’s Busch League. You wanna p**s off the no.1 player in the world? Good luck.”

Scheffler and Henley would go on to claim a 3&2 victory, after which Kisner tweeted: “Tried to tell y’all.”

Despite Kim’s fiery reputation, the tension came as a surprise to many, given his close friendship with Scheffler.

The two golfers often play casual rounds together outside their tournament schedule.

And Scheffler himself admitted that Kim ‘poked the bear’ with his antics.

“We’re friends after, we’re not friends during, I guess,” the two-time major winner said.

He added: “I think we were 2-up in the match, and he [Kim] made a putt on 7, had a big reaction, and I made a big putt, as well.

“So it was important for me to make sure that we kept the momentum in the match.

“Then I guess he made a big putt on 8, and they walked off the green to the tee or something like that, and then I saw a video of him yelling at me.

“From my perspective, it looked like he poked the bear.”