Golf fans know to remain quiet during a backswing or putt. But when asked to opine on the game’s top villains – they howl like a World Cup crowd during penalty kicks.
RotoWire surveyed 750 golf fans and asked them to name the players they simply cannot stand, and the results read less like a leaderboard and more like a group wanted poster. There’s a runaway winner, a reigning U.S. Open champ getting torched for his temper, and — most surprisingly — a guy with six majors and a smile everyone loves showing up smack in the top three. Let’s get into it, but remember. We’re not picking on just golfers. RotoWire also has the 20 Most Hated College Football Coaches ahead of Week 0.
Nobody should be shocked that Patrick Reed topped this list. Frankly, at this point, calling him the No. 1 most hated golfer in America feels less like a ranking and more like a lifetime achievement award — a Gold Medal for over a decade of dedicated villainy. The gap between Reed and everyone else isn’t close. It’s not even the same time zone.
Most Hated Golfers
The résumé writes itself. There’s the 2019 Hero World Challenge, where Reed was caught improving his lie in a waste bunker — golf’s version of getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar, except the cookie jar was on television. His caddie then punched a fan at the Presidents Cup in Australia shortly after.
There’s the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open, where an embedded-ball ruling turned into a full-blown citizen’s arrest situation, cameras and all. There’s the 2018 Ryder Cup, where Reed decided the classiest move after a loss was publicly ripping his own captain, Jim Furyk, and torching the decision to split him from Jordan Spieth — because nothing says “team player” like throwing your teammates under the team bus in print.
And then, of course, the 2022 LIV Golf jump, followed by an exit from LIV after 2025, a fresh start on the DP World Tour, and a planned return to the PGA Tour in 2027. Reed has changed tours more times than most golfers change putters, and fans have followed him with the same enthusiasm they’d bring to a rerun they’ve already seen. He earned this trophy. He built it himself, one rules controversy at a time.
2. Bryson DeChambeau
Here’s the twist nobody saw coming: the most interesting name on this list isn’t No. 1. It’s No. 2. Bryson DeChambeau has spent the last two years running what may be the most aggressive image rehab campaign in golf, and fans are telling us, politely but firmly, that it isn’t working.
Think about what Bryson has going for him. A runner-up finish that turned into a win at the 2024 U.S. Open. A YouTube channel with 2.78 million subscibers. There, he built a golf course out of nothing and hits trick shots with the enthusiasm of a guy who just discovered content creation exists. A genuine, visible effort to be the fun, approachable “mad scientist” instead of the slow-playing, feud-picking version fans grew tired of during the Koepka years.
And yet — still No. 2. Still ahead of six-time major winner Rory McIlroy. Still sitting in the on-deck circle behind Reed like he’s waiting his turn. The old guard remembers the slow play. They remember the LIV jump. They remember the persona before the YouTube algorithm smoothed it out, and no amount of trick-shot content seems to be erasing that memory. Bryson has won over plenty of new fans — he just hasn’t won over enough of the old ones, and this list is the receipt. His rules snafu at the Open Championship didn’t help matters, either.
3. Rory McIlroy
Rounding out the top of the list is McIlroy at No. 3, which is the least “hated” entry a hated list has ever produced. Rory just won back-to-back Masters titles and sits on six majors, and he’s still one of the most beloved players alive — but a reputation for flip-flopping on LIV and a dose of media-darling fatigue was apparently enough to land him here anyway. (Maybe his mood after the 2025 PGA lingers with some?)
Call it polarization, not hatred. Especially in the U.S.
The Rest of the Rogues’ Gallery
Reigning U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark (No. 4), whose talent keeps getting overshadowed by locker-punching headlines.
Phil Mickelson (No. 5), still paying the toll on his LIV pivot, in addition to multiple scandals.
Patrick Cantlay (No. 6), forever “AulPat” to Ryder Cup crowds.
Matt Kuchar (No. 7), who will never live down a lacking caddie payout.
Sergio Garcia (No. 8), spitting mad since 2019 and never quite recovering the narrative.
Billy Horschel (No. 9), whose big mouth finally caught up with his image.
Tyrrell Hatton (No. 10), the sport’s most reliable club-slamming, cameras-catch-everything eruption machine.
How the Rankings Were Determined
This list comes from a RotoWire fan survey of 750 respondents conducted in 2026, with players ranked purely by the share of fans who named them. This measures fan sentiment — not ability, not results, not character. The field splits five PGA Tour players, four LIV Golf players, and one DP World Tour player (Reed), and major totals reflect the official record through 2026, including Rory’s 2026 Masters and Wyndham Clark‘s 2026 U.S. Open.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the most hated golfer in 2026?
Patrick Reed topped RotoWire’s 750-person fan survey as the most hated golfer of 2026, driven by a long history of rules controversies, Ryder Cup friction, and his move to LIV Golf. He now plays the DP World Tour.
Why do golf fans dislike Patrick Reed?
The dislike stems mainly from rules disputes — including a 2019 waste-bunker penalty and a 2021 embedded-ball ruling — alongside the 2018 Ryder Cup fallout and his LIV defection.
If Bryson DeChambeau is popular now, why is he still on the list?
The survey measures how many fans still name him, and old reputations linger. His YouTube-fueled rehab and 2024 U.S. Open win have won many fans back, but enough holdouts remain to place him second.
Is Rory McIlroy really disliked?
Rory is one of the most popular players in the game, so his No. 3 finish reflects polarization rather than pure hatred — largely tied to his shifting stance on LIV Golf and heavy media coverage.
What was the Matt Kuchar caddie controversy?
After his 2018 Mayakoba win, Kuchar allegedly paid his fill-in local caddie about $5,000 out of a roughly $1.3 million prize. The backlash was severe; he later paid $50,000.
Are the most hated golfers all LIV players?
No. The 2026 list splits five PGA Tour players, four LIV Golf players, and one DP World Tour player (Reed) — though the LIV divide is a recurring theme in fan sentiment.
Source link
