San Francisco--Flamboyant Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez was involved in a dramatic on-course confrontation with Keegan Bradley as tempers flared in their dead rubber at the WGC-Championship Match Play Friday in California.
Jimenez and Bradley were only playing for pride after both losing their opening two games at Harding Park earlier this week.
But the futile nature of the contest did not prevent an extraordinary flare-up on the back nine of their match, with the golfers squaring up to each other after a disputed drop.
The flashpoint was triggered when Jimenez and Bradley's caddie Steve Hale clashed verbally over a drop off of a cart path.
After Jimenez appeared to tell Hale to "shut up", Bradley intervened and went nose-to-nose with the Spaniard in scenes rarely witnessed in the typically genteel world of golf.
Bradley later moved to damp down the controversy following the match, which Jimenez won by a margin of two up.
"I'm not going to say any more about it. It's fine. The round is over," Bradley said.
"I have nothing but respect for him, he's a great player out here, but I have to be able to stick up for myself when I feel like something is wrong."
AFP
