Fan helps tour star after seagull steals ball marker at The Open

Who warned The Open hopefuls about the seagulls on the west coast of Scotland?

The wind reached upwards of 20mph at Royal Troon on Sunday, making conditions almost impossible for the top players.

As chaos descended on the Ayrshire links, Mother nature tested the best players in the world.

But it was another kind of birdie that should’ve had the attention of Xander Schauffele and his rivals. Just ask Si Woo Kim.

On the second hole of the four-time PGA Tour winner’s final round, his ball marker was pinched by a swooping gull – gloriously caught on camera by a spectator.

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Mick Renwick, from Newcastle, was attending his first Open Championship – and golf tournament – when he captured the moment Kim’s marker was nicked.

The seagull mustered a cheer from the gallery behind the green, where one fan joked: “You were about a foot away.”

According to The Open leaderboard, Kim left 39ft. 5in with his approach shot.

But that was when the seagull cost him two feet. Kim – who finished T43 for the championship – approached Renwick to watch the footage and find out where he’d placed the marker.

Kim thanked him before consulting an official to replace it, 41ft. 1in to the pin. The 29-year-old wasn’t penalised and two-putted for his par, going onto shoot a three-over 74.

If anything, it was a costly theft. “Apparently, the marker was worth $2,000,” Renwick told bunkered. “We kept an eye on the seagull to see if it would drop the marker, but it flew away with it in its mouth.

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“I thought I might have got a signed glove off him for the video!”

“It was our first time at a golf tournament and what better tournament than The Open.”

A memorable start to Renwick’s days as a spectator at The Open, but another disappointing effort on the links for the South Korean.

It was Kim’s 31st start in a major championship and he is yet to finish inside the top ten. His best effort remains a T13 finish at the 2021 Masters, while his best Open finish was a T15 result in 2022.

“Yeah, it was a tough day,” he said after Sunday’s round. “I didn’t hit it very well, like Friday. I had a hard day. It was a four-stroke difference on 17.

One positive from his week in south Ayrshire was recording the first ever hole-in-one at Royal Troon’s 17th during the Open.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.