Haotong Li was likely a very happy man on Thursday morning before the third signature event of the PGA Tour season. 

Jake Knapp’s late withdrawal handed the 30-year-old an unlikely and very welcome start at the $20m Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

But it was a day to forget for the Chinese golfer, with Li carding an opening round of five-over 77 at Bay Hill to leave him 14 strokes adrift of early pacesetter Daniel Berger. 

Li’s card contained two birdies, two bogeys, a triple bogey and a double bogey at the 18th. 

But it was his ugly six at the closing hole that really rubbed Li the wrong way. 

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Li split the fairway with his tee shot but found the greenside bunker with his approach. Making matters worse, his golf ball plugged in the trap. 

The golfer decided to putt his way out of the sand but his escape wasn’t brilliant, with his ball just trickling onto the green some 35 feet away from the pin. 

He misjudged his fourth and watched his ball glide past the hole and settle on the fringe. Two putts later and he was in for a six. 

Li was visibly furious, waving his arms, muttering to himself and gesticulating to his caddie.

He managed to compose himself, albeit very briefly, to shake the hand of his playing partner Matthew Fitzpatrick. 

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But according to the Guardian’s Ewen Murray, was involved in an angry exchange with a spectator after he put a snapped lob wedge in the bin at the back of the range. 

“Snap another one!” Li was reportedly told. 

The reply began with a word beginning with ‘F’ and ended in ‘off’. 

Watch Li’s meltdown here: Show X Embedded Content

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Billy Horschel’s bust-up

This is the second time in the space of a month a PGA Tour player has been involved in a heated exchange with a spectator. 

Billy Horschel confronted a heckler at the Cognizant Classic last week. 

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After hitting his ball into the water, a comment was reportedly made to Horschel over the fact that he had previously “bad-mouthed” PGA National. 

The spectator was promptly ejected by security. 

Horschel said he did not agree with that decision, but called for more “respect”. 

“Listen, everyone has a right to say things,” Horschel said. 

“I think there’s just a level of respect that – when somebody is trying to do their job – understand, we’re trying to do a job out here.

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“Listen, we are really good golfers, and we can make the game look very easy, but at the end of the day, it is a job.

“A lot of us are playing for victories. A lot of us are playing for our cards. A lot of us are playing for many different things.

“At the end of the day, it’s a job, and as I’ve always said, I think I can interact with a crowd as much or as little as anybody out here. But I just think it should be respectful.

“That’s all I ask for. It’s not like I’m going to their job sniping off to them a little bit.

“But like I said, it’s fine. I don’t care. At that moment I hit a bad golf shot.

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“I questioned somebody, and the guy said a few more things, and I just said, ‘You need to be more informed on what I said.'”

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