Extinction Rebellion activists stormed the 18th green during the final moments of the Travellers Championship in Connecticut, spraying smoke and powder. Six people were arrested, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan "NO GOLF ON A DEAD PLANET".
The climate change protest disrupted the end of the PGA tournament as golfers Akshay Bhatia, Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim were finishing their final round. Six protesters were tackled by police and arrested following the stunt on Sunday afternoon.
Bhatia said: "I was scared for my life. I didn't even really know what was happening. But thankfully the cops were there and kept us safe, because that's, you know, that's just weird stuff."
The protest caused a delay to play of around five minutes. The tournament was later won by Scheffler in a play-off.
The world number one praised the police response. He said officers "got it taken care of pretty dang fast, and so we were very grateful for that".
Mr Scheffler added: "When something like that happens, you don't really know what's happening, so it can kind of rattle you a little bit. That can be a stressful situation, and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that."
Extinction Rebellion told the AP news agency: "Golf, more than other events, is heavily reliant on good weather. Golf fans should therefore understand better than most the need for strong, immediate climate action."
Some of the crowd around the 18th green booed and shouted insults at the protesters during the incident. At one point they also chanted "U-S-A".
The smoke bombs and powder left behind a white and red residue on the putting surface, which was cleaned up by groundstaff using leaf blowers.
Fellow golfer Kim said: "They left a lot of marks on the greens, which is not right for us players - especially when two guys are trying to win a golf tournament."
