The inaugural LIV Golf South Africa event, despite setting a new attendance record with over 100,000 spectators, was marred by violent fan incidents shared on social media, including multiple brawls. Picture: LIV Golf
Image: LIV Golf
While the inaugural LIV Golf South Africa was considered a roaring success as it concluded on Sunday, it was not all good news as at least two different violent incidents involving fans were shared on social media.
According to a post on X, by user @NathiSibiya8, the first incident took place on Thursday when round one took place at The Club at Steyn City.
In the video, which was just under two minutes long, near the fan exit at the course, two men are seen pushing and shoving each other initially before they are separated and the scuffle appears to be over.
However, another fight seemed to break out a few metres away between two different men.
The original two men later came together again as a fist flew as one of them fell to the ground after being struck.
Security staff seemed slow to get involved to attempt to break up the fights as the people involved became more violent.
Another video doing the rounds sees South African boxing champ Kevin Lerena, posted on his instagram profile, showing a presenter how to perform a right hook properly in an interview, before the video cuts to a shot of one fan knocking out another. It’s unclear what happened before this point, or if the man was knocked unconscious or if the fight escalated afterwards.
Over 100,000 spectators attended the four-day event, making it the most well-attended golf tournament on South African soil ever. The previous attendance record was set in 2019 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which had just over 76,000 walk through the gates.