European Tour Bans Caddie for hiding extra club in a bush.

Thought you should know this, cheating is not just restricted to the soccer field or rugby pitch, it has now surfaced at the wonderful game of golf, at the highest level, the European Tour.

Jose Manuel Lara was disqualified from the BMW International Open by the European Tour, after his Caddie was caught trying to hide an extra club he had accidentally put in Jose Manuel Lara’s bag at the beginning of the round. The caddie, Mathias Vinson, created a ruse on the second hole of the round to try and dispose of the 15th club, in a bush. Playing partners Damien McGrane and Peter Hedblom noticed Vinson going toward the bush and asked him what he was doing.

According to European Tour chief referee John Paramor, Vinson replied to the players;

” I’ve got this wrong. I’ve done something bad. I wish it hadn’t happened.”

Normally the penalty for having an extra club in the bag would have been assessed as a pair of two-shot penalties, one for each hole he had the extra club in the bag. But this was not a normal affair, John Paramor said:

“It was clearly the caddie doing what he felt at the time was the right thing, but was clearly the wrong thing. He’s kind of been asked not to come back and that’s how the matter has been resolved.”

What strikes me as funny is that the two playing partners saw what was happening, but Jose did not apparently. You don’t suppose the caddie told Jose of the error, and it was then Jose’s idea to get around the problem, knowing if the caddie did get caught he could absolve himself of all blame. I wonder if John Paramor will be keeping a close watch on Jose Manuel Lara, and I also wonder what corrective action would have been taken if it was proved that Jose instigated the dastardly course of action.

Your comments are awaited.