Pro brands spectator an ‘idiot’ after stealing his ball mid-round

New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox has branded a spectator at the Italian Open an ‘idiot’ for taking off with his ball mid-round.

The 30-year-old, who graduated from the Challenge Tour last year, was playing the eighth hole at Golf Club Milano alongside partners Graeme Storm and Ashun Wu when the ‘fan’ decided he fancied taking a little present home.

Understandably, Fox was less than impressed as he had to head back to the tee and with a two-stroke penalty. He double-bogeyed the hole and signed for a one-under-par 70.

The penalty was the difference between being T36 and T68 after round one and, as things stand, making it to the weekend. After his round, he tweeted:

However, making the cut in Italy or not shouldn’t make any difference to the Kiwi’s European Tour status. Fox currently sits 26th in Race to Dubai – aided by a run of sixth at the French Open and T4 at the Irish Open and Scottish Open – in what his first season on Europe’s top tier.

This isn’t the only piece of bad luck that has happened to Fox this week though, as he lost a bag en route from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to this week’s Rolex Series event.

They say bad luck comes in threes… and today is Friday the 13th…