PGA Tour Caddie Tries to Stop Heated Fight Between Major Winner Boss & NBC Analyst but Fails

The 45th U.S. Senior Open had barely reached its midpoint when a tense confrontation between a major champion and a veteran NBC analyst stole the spotlight. As Padraig Harrington wrapped up his second round at Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, the three-time major winner found himself locked in a heated exchange with Roger Maltbie, the longtime on-course reporter and former PGA Tour pro. A video that surfaced Friday evening captured the moment Harrington turned toward Maltbie and snapped, “Never on a golf course stand and look at somebody looking for a golf ball,”. But Harrington wasn’t done there.

 Clearly frustrated, he reminded Maltbie of his own background in professional golf. “You’ve played golf all your life. You understand,” he said, emphasizing that even as a reporter, Maltbie should have known better than to simply stand and watch during a lost ball situation. But, Maltbie’s response, “I’m not a player”, only escalated the tension. He then added, “That’s a hard position to take there,” drawing attention from both spectators and media members nearby. The incident occurred near the ninth fairway, just after Harrington had finished his round, and quickly became the most talked-about moment of the day, and now the internet.

While the specific details of whose ball was lost weren’t confirmed, it appeared that someone in Harrington’s group, possibly the Irishman himself, had gone offline with a shot and was searching for the ball in the rough. In professional golf, it’s customary for anyone nearby—caddies, fellow players, even broadcasters—to lend a hand in the search. Maltbie, who spent two decades on the PGA Tour and has five wins to his name, stood aside. That inaction hit a nerve with Harrington, who expected better from someone so well-versed in the game’s etiquette. Seeing that the argument wasn’t cooling down, Harrington’s longtime caddie, Ronan Flood, stepped between the two men. 

In an effort to de-escalate the situation, Flood placed a hand on Harrington’s arm while gesturing toward Maltbie, attempting to steer his boss away from the conflict. Despite Flood’s intervention, neither man immediately backed down. Harrington remained visibly upset while Maltbie stood his ground, unfazed but clearly unwilling to concede the point.

Eventually, with Flood’s quiet persistence and the awkward attention of onlookers mounting, both sides disengaged. But the video, first posted by reporter Brett Forrest, had crossed 1.3 million views by Saturday morning. But it wasn’t an isolated moment—  the display of frustration between Harrington and Maltbie is just the latest in a string of visible clashes between athletes and the press. 

This season has seen multiple flashpoints where players have pushed back against media involvement, both during play and in the press tent. At the PGA Championship, Irish Open champion Shane Lowry had a tense moment with an ESPN on-course reporter who stepped in uninvited during a rules deliberation on the eighth hole at Quail Hollow. After Lowry’s ball landed in a pitch-mark, a referee was called, but before a decision was reached, the reporter told the official, “That’s not your pitch mark.” An irritated Lowry immediately replied, “That’s not for you to talk about,” later stating the interference “annoyed me a lot,” and stressing that only the player and the referee should be involved. Around the same time, Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy drew criticism for their media silence. 

Morikawa skipped interviews after his runner-up finish at Bay Hill, explaining that he didn’t “owe” anyone anything—a sentiment that Golf Channel analysts Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley publicly opposed. McIlroy, too, avoided the media for four days after reports surfaced about a non-conforming driver in his bag, eventually telling reporters at the U.S. Open, “I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do, yeah.” Harrington had wrapped up his round with a tidy 67 before tensions flared near the ninth fairway. Still, he walked away from the confrontation and refocused ahead of the weekend, entering Saturday tied for the lead and well within reach of another senior major title.

Padraig Harrington Still Shares U.S. Open Lead

The on-course friction didn’t rattle Harrington’s scorecard. Earlier on Friday, he delivered a composed, bogey-free 67 to follow up his opening round of 67, placing him at 6-under through 36 holes. His ball-striking was consistent throughout—he hit 12 of 14 fairways and relied on clean approach shots to set up four birdies. “When you’re at the top of the leaderboard all week, it’s always a stressful week,” he said after the round, acknowledging both the mounting pressure and his satisfaction with managing it so far. 

Now three years into his Champions Tour career, Harrington remains a consistent contender at the senior majors. A win this week at The Broadmoor would mark his second U.S. Senior Open title—his first came in 2022 at Saucon Valley. Though the post-round confrontation with NBC’s Roger Maltbie briefly stole headlines, Harrington’s disciplined play kept him locked in. Sharing the top spot with Stewart Cink and Mark Hensby heading into the weekend, Harrington is poised to make another serious run at a title that continues to elude many of his contemporaries.