On Sunday, Lucas Glover took off his golf shoes and went viral. On Monday, the six-time PGA Tour winner took to Instagram to explain the situation.

After rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt during the final round of the 3M Open, Glover walked to the side of the green and removed his shoes before plucking his golf ball out of the hole. Initial reactions to the clip had golf fans believing Glover was protesting AimPoint, the controversial method of reading greens used by many tour pros, but that was not the case.

As Glover explained in a statement on Instagram, he had been notified by an official that there had been a complaint about spike marks being made around the holes. And after being singled out as a possible culprit due to his metal spikes, the 46-year-old mockingly did his best to not make any marks by walking to the hole wearing only his socks.

Glover, who is the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council chairman, said he didn’t break any rule and that the soft, wet greens at TPC Twin Cities were particularly vulnerable to spike marks from any golf shoes. While he noted there have been some heated arguments over metal spike marks in the past (Hello, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson in 2005), he said he’s never received a complaint about spike marks in his 23 years on the PGA Tour.

He further noted—multiple times throughout the statement—that players are now allowed to fix these spike marks. And that he’ll be wearing his metal spikes at this week’s Rocket Classic. Here’s Glover’s full—and overall, fantastic—statement:

“My biggest disappointment in all of this, is that a small faction of people are talking too much about this, a non-issue, instead of Jackson Koivun,” the 2009 U.S. Open champ wrote before this humdinger of a conclusion.

“Looking forward to the Rocket Classic this week,” said Glover, who finished T-57 at the 3M Open. “I’ll be wearing metal spikes, and the people playing behind me are still allowed to tap down the marks. Did I mention that?”

Yep, I think they heard you loud and clear, Lucas.

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Supplied