Rory McIlroy let his frustrations get the better of him, venting at a fan during the Genesis Invitational Open.

The Northern Irishman had a day to forget in Los Angeles, with his putting game completely abandoning him, leading to one attendee giving some unwanted advice.

Upon missing a ten-foot putt on the third hole, golf insider Dan Rapaport claims that a fan shouted, “blame your caddie!” at McIlroy, who responded: “Shut the f*** up.”

Rapaport added: “Rory has got zero time for any Harry Diamond slander.”

The moment of tension comes with fans drawing a parallel between McIlroy’s major form and his switch to Diamond as his caddie.

Since changing from J.P. Fitzgerald in 2017, the 35-year-old golfing megastar hasn’t won a major.

Yet he’s scooped almost every other prize on offer with Diamond, winning three FedEx Cups, two Race to Dubai titles and multiple PGA Tour wins and Ryder Cup victories.

That hasn’t stopped people theorising about Diamond, though, who McIlroy has had to defend in the past, just in less X-rated fashion.

Speaking to the BBC, he said Diamond was like an ‘older brother’ as he explained: “I wouldn’t have him on the bag if I didn’t think he was good at what he did.

“He’s grown into his role really well. I think our record speaks for itself. We’ve won a ton.

“We’re very close. I love having him on the bag. I’m a different person. And I’m never going to give him s*** even if something goes wrong. It would not be worth it.”

He also acknowledged the criticism at the tail end of last year, saying after winning the Race to Dubai: “I want to give a shout out to Harry, he’s been with me every step of the way for the last seven years now.

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“He gets his fair share of stick and it’s not warranted. Harry is an amazing caddie and the best friend I could ever ask for, thanks mate.”

Whether the Diamond sideshow will take the headlines or not is one thing, but McIlroy could maybe do with it to distract from a Sunday collapse.

He dropped from fourth to eighth on the leaderboard with statistically his worst putting round in a decade, dropping one double bogey, two bogeys and two birdies.

His -3.9 statistic in ‘Stroke Gained: Putting’ is the worst since the 2014 Wells Fargo Championship, likely ending any hopes of success in California.

The remainder of the Genesis Invitational can be followed LIVE on talkSPORT 2.