“Was the applause for the fart or the shot?” – Fans hilariously react as mic catches Francesco Molinari fart while hitting his first tee at The Open

Fans at the 2023 Open Championship reacted on social media after a hot mic picked up Francesco Molinari of Italy farting while taking a shot during the second round of the Open Championship.

The last major of the year is currently underway at Royal Liverpool Golf Course featuring a stellar field of 156 golfers competing to win the Claret Jug and winner's share from the purse of $16.5 million. The tournament concluded its second on Friday, July 21.

Molinari was teeing off on the first hole when the mike recorded a sound that sounded like a fart. Photographer Josh Jeffery shared a video of Francesco Molinari's shot at the Royal Liverpool Golf Course on his Twitter account.

"I’m pleased to announce that Francesco Molinari just farted when hitting his first tee shot," he wrote in the caption.

Fans jumped into the comments section with various amusing quips on the incident:

"Was the applause for the fart or the shot?"

"Ha ha! I think a standing ovation would have been appropriate."

"That’s a spiiiiicy meat-a-ball!"

"Put everything he had into it."

"Hot mic"

Here are some more fans reaction:

The 2023 Open Championship has completed two rounds, with the third set to begin at 8:55 a.m. local time on Saturday, July 22. Several top-ranked golfers, including Francesco Molinari, did not make the cut at the event.

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Francesco Molinari's performance at the 2023 Open Championship

Francesco Molinari missed the cut at the 2023 Open Championship by three strokes. He finished with a score of 6 over par.

Molinari started his game on Thursday, July 21 with a bogey on the first hole. He birdied the second hole to neutralize the score. He made three birdies and only two bogeys on the front nine on Thursday and two bogeys and one birdie on the back nine to wrap up with a score of 73.

Francesco Molinari began the second round again with a bogey on the first hole. He then made a birdie on the fourth. On the back nine of the second round, the Italian golfer carded three bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie to wrap up with a score of 75.

Brian Harman topped the leaderboard of the 2023 Open Championship following the second round with a score of under 10, five strokes ahead of Tommy Fleetwood.

Sepp Straka took the third spot while Jason Day, Min Woo Lee and Shubhankar Sharma secured the fourth spot. Jordan Spieth settled in seventh place alongside Cameron Young, Emiliano Grillo, and Adrian Otaegui.

The 2023 US Open winner Wyndham Clark settled in 11th place with World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, 2023 Farmers Insurance winner Max Homa, English golfers Richard Bland, Laurie Canter, Matthew Southgate and Matthew Jordan, Nicolai Hojgaard, Henrik Stenson, and Thriston Lawrence. Antoine Rozner and Stewart Cink also settled in 11th place.

Top-ranked golfers like Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Talor Gooch, Collin Morikawa, John Daly, Sahith Theegala, and Phil Mickelson did not make the cut.