In a wacky story first reported on Golf Channel during the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, Robert Allenby was reportedly kidnapped, robbed and beaten while out on the town Friday night in Hawaii, hours after missing the cut at Waialae CC.
Twitter exploded seconds after Steve Sands finished his report during live third-round coverage, with all sorts of reactions. Some people were sympathetic while others made fun of the situation. It was the typical reaction you’d expect from Twitter.
The question that came to my mind and one that I Tweeted out to Bob Estes was this: Does this change the mentality of PGA Touring pros when going out on the town?
Based on Estes’s response, he already thinks about it depending on the city he’s in. I will bet he and others will think more about where they go in the future as well.
Each week during coverage leading up to the tournament you hear stories all the time of players going out to dinner and having a good time with friends and family. There’s also no hiding the fact on Twitter and social media. You can always find one of the pros letting you know what restaurant they are at and who they are with.
This has never happened before to a PGA Tour pro. I think it’s something the PGA TOUR will get involved with and try to put out safety tips in the future. The PGA TOUR is different from any other sport, think about it. As an NFL team, you travel the day before the game and play and leave the city. With MLB, they might stay three nights to play a three game series. An NBA team arrives and leaves the city within one day.
As a PGA TOUR pro, you might arrive on Monday to the tournament city and if you play good enough you are staying through at least Sunday, if not the following Monday. That leaves plenty of time for thugs to stalk, target and commit a crime against you.
Now we are way early in this story. Nobody knows, but Allenby might have been doing something that pissed some people off at the wine bar he was at. Who knows. Maybe it was random. Maybe it was planned. We don’t know and will find out more in the coming days.
The one thing I do know, these guys are rich and like to go out. Unfortunately, they are the perfect target. Let’s just hope Robert Allenby is not injured badly and will make a full recovery, and they find these thugs and drop them off in the middle of the ocean.
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