Robert Allenby and caddie no longer together after mid-round argument
Robert Allenby’s strange 2015 took another odd twist on Thursday in Round 1 of the RBC Canadian Open.
Allenby was on the par-5 13th, his fourth hole of the day, at Glen Abbey Golf Club, and he had hit his tee shot some 250 yards and into a water hazard. He dropped and laid up, leaving about 135 yards to the hole for his fourth shot. Standing at the ball, Allenby’s caddie, Mick Middlemo, suggested 8-iron. Allenby thought 7-iron. Middlemo insisted and Allenby swung the 8-iron. A gust of wind caught the shot and deposited the ball into another hazard. A confrontation ensued, according to ScoreGolf.
“I said to him, ‘You know this happens every week. This has happened for like the last three or four or five months. We keep making bad mistakes and you’re not helping me in these circumstances,’” Allenby explained.
“And he just lost the plot at me. He just told me I could go **** myself. And I said, ‘Look, you need to slow down. I mean just calm down.’ And then he just got right in my face as if he wanted to just beat me up. I said, ‘Stop being a such and such and calm down and get back into the game.’ And he just got even closer and closer and I just said, ‘That’s it, you’re sacked.’”
At that point, Middlemo, who started working for Appleby this season, didn’t walk off the course despite having apparently been fired. Middlemo lugged the bag in silence until reaching the 18th green, then dropping it and walking away, but not before delivering a few parting shots, according to Allenby.
“This is the worst incident I’ve ever witnessed as a player,” Allenby said. “I’ve never been threatened and as he walked away he said, ‘I’ll be waiting for you in the car park.’”
Allenby let a volunteer fan carry the bag the rest of the way, which will go down as a strange 9-over 81.
This is the second bizarre incident involving the Aussie this year. After missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Allenby, Middlemo and another friend went to a Waikiki wine bar. Allenby said he recalled leaving the establishment, but then the next thing he remembered was waking up in a nearby park being harassed by homeless people. Allenby didn’t have his credit cards and sustained some injuries. He claimed he had been kidnapped, beaten up, robbed and dumped in the park. Ultimately, a man was charged and recently convicted of using Allenby’s missing credit cards, though it remains unclear how Allenby sustained his injuries.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
