While trying to become the first three-time winner of the Wells Fargo Championship, Rory McIlroy, as well as playing partner Rickie Fowler, dealt with another distraction Thursday in the form of a thrown golf ball with an earplug attached to it.
After McIlroy teed off on the 250-yard par-three sixth hole, his partner stepped up amid rain-soaked and windy conditions before a fan threw the object toward the 27-year-old Fowler.
"So random," Fowler said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "The guy tried to say it was a gift. I don't know why you would give a gift of a golf ball with an earplug attached to it.