Golfer disqualified after caddie tries to hide extra club in bushes
José Manuel Lara was disqualified from the BMW International Open in Cologne, Germany, after his caddie tried to hide an extra club in the bushes.
Normally a player is penalized two strokes for every hole the extra club is in the bag. However, since Lara's caddie, Mathias Vinson, attempted to dispose of the extra club without telling anyone, rules officials determined after the round that it was a "serious breach of etiquette," and Lara was disqualified from the tournament and his caddie was asked not to return, according to the Guardian.
Sky Sports got more details on the strange incident from European Tour chief referee John Paramor:
"His caddie noticed that he had a 15th club (players are only allowed 14) and on the second hole he attempted to lose it in a thick bush.
"He was seen entering the bush with the bag of clubs by his playing partners (Ireland's Damien McGrane and Swede Peter Hedblom), who thought it was a little bit suspicious.
"They went and asked the chap 'What are you doing?' and he sort of fumbled out an answer saying 'I've got this wrong - I've done something bad. I wish it hadn't happened, etc etc'.
The Daily Record's Bernie McGuire caught up with McGrane, who said he was the one who quizzed the caddie on his suspicious actions.
“I said to Jose Manuel’s caddy ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Straight away he knew he had done something silly.
“The thing is that if you go into thick bushes to go to the toilet you don’t take the golf bag with you, so I thought that something strange was happening.
“Unfortunately it turned out to be true. I would prefer it hadn’t happened but I said to Peter I had a duty to the tournament to explain to Jose Manuel what I had seen.”
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