American golfer Kyle Stanley is under fire after he failed to yell ‘fore’ after hitting a wayward drive in his second round, as his shot hit the mother of his playing partner’s caddie.
Robert MacIntyre confronted Stanley for remaining silent after hitting a poor drive at the 17th hole. According to The Scotsman, Stanley also hit a marshal on the 14th hole without warning the crowd that the ball wasn’t headed toward the fairway.
Via The Scotsman:
“My playing partner doesn’t shout ‘Fore’, his ball goes into the crowd, we’re shouting ‘Fore’ as the ball is coming into the crowd. He’s just standing watching it. And people didn’t have enough time to react when we shouted.
It hit Greg’s mum. So I told him how it was. I said I wasn’t happy – and he didn’t really like my response. He’s the only one I’ve seen do that. It was straight into the crowd. It was into the crowd from the word go. And we’re expecting him to shout fore. She’s all right, I think, but it’s not what you want.”
Caddie Greg Milne’s mother was fortunately unharmed.
Stanley defended himself when asked about the incident by reporters, and gave a different version of events. According to Stanley, several people around the tee box shouted ‘fore,’ so he didn’t feel it was necessary to yell.
Stanley also told reporters – who rather aggressively chastised him for not apologizing to the caddie’s mother – that he made sure everyone in the gallery was unhurt, and that no one told him anyone had been hit.
There isn’t video of Stanley’s drive, so it’s difficult to say whether the gallery was adequately warned, or if there was a significant delay. According to Stanley, “everyone” knew the ball was coming, and the ball only struck a spectator on a bounce, not in the air.
