Golfer's LIV fumed after tree damage: 'F—ing bull—-'

On his LIV Golf profile page, Kevin Na cites “2-footers” as the shot that gives him the most trouble.

But in the final round of the LIV event in Adelaide, Australia, on Sunday another challenge greatly upset Na: the recovery shot in the trees.

If this tale of woe sounds familiar, that's because in 2011 Na signed the most shocking score in PGA Tour history: a duodecuple-bogey 16 in the opening round of the Texas Open. Of course, not all 16 of those strokes are burned into your memory – or Na's color -, but perhaps a few of them are: his back-to-back tee shots in almost identical spots in the brush; his fourth shot, from the trees and vines, struck him, and cost him another; his last 11th swipe, mercifully knocking his ball out of the woods. If you were watching from home, you were probably doing so from behind a pillow.

To Na's credit, she took the episode in stride with humor. Golf is hard, yadda, yadda. Later that year, he won his first PGA Tour title, in his hometown of Vegas, and became one of the most consistent players on the Tour. Na, now 40, has amassed a total of five Tour titles, 79 top-10 finishes and nearly $38 million in earnings.

But in 2022, Na left that life behind when he signed with LIV Golf. More time at home with her three children appealed to her, Na said, as did the opportunity to play club golf. Na didn't talk about the money but that, of course, was also a draw. Despite not finishing in the top 30 in LIV's first two seasons, Na still pocketed nearly $6.2 million to go along with any hefty signing bonus he received. This year was better for Na, but a little. He is 25th on the list of players, but the team he manages, the Iron Heads, is in last place in the 13-team league.

But Down Under this past weekend, things finally looked up. On the eve of the third and final round, Na's Iron Heads were in the hunt, just one off the lead, backed by Na's second-round 70-under 65. On Sunday, Na opened with a bogey 6 on the 10th hole (LIV's. format includes a shot start), but erased a slow start with birdies on the 12th and 18th. Then he really got going, reeling off four straight birdies from 5-8 to get to five under for the round with just one hole to play.

Then? Well, it wasn't quite the Texas Open massacre, but it wasn't pretty, either.

After pulling his shot to the left of the fairway, Na found his ball in the sand and pinned by trees. To make matters worse, his orb was sitting in the fan's place.

“I'm very angry,” said Na about his bad lies. “This is a bull—-.”

When Na's singer, Kenny Harms, said, “Deep breath.”

He weighed a few options but wasted no time playing, hitting the iron into the sand with the aim of splitting the trees and returning his ball to the fairway.

He did not succeed.

“F—ing bull—-,” Na said again before hitting her bag angrily.

Na's next attempt, a seemingly more controllable chip back into the fairway, was no better.

A few beats after a fan said, “One of us,” Naye swung, but his ball missed the mark and bounced back to him.

Realizing, Na let a few seconds pass before playing his fourth shot – another rescue chip, this time, out onto the fairway with Na quickly following it.

The good news: Na will avoid a duodecuple bogey. The bad news: He made a double that took him back to three under for the round. Na ended up finishing 34th in the individual event while his Iron Heads finished 6th.

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As editor-in-chief of GOLF.com, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game's most respected and heavily trafficked news and services outlets. He wears many hats – planning, writing, imagining, developing, dreaming in one day when he breaks 80 – and feels privileged to work with an insanely smart and hard-working team of writers, editors and producers. Before taking over GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.