Kyle Stanley today declared the incident which led to the mother of the caddie of Scottish golfer Robert MacIntyre being struck by his errant tee-shot during the second round of The Open Championship was a “non-issue”.
MacIntyre responded angrily to Stanley when the American failed to shout fore as his ball hurtled towards the galleries and eventually led to Stephanie Milne, the mother of his bagman Greg, being treated by a doctor for a hand injury.
In the heated aftermath, Oban left-hander MacIntyre revealed that “harsh words” had been exchanged as he criticised Stanley for not shouting a warning.
Support for MacIntyre has flooded in on social media while Stanley has been criticised for his lack of golfing etiquette which is a common problem, particularly on the PGA Tour.
After finishing his third round at Portrush, Stanley offered his side of the story and said: “After I hit, several people on the tee box yelled ‘fore’. My two playing partners, my caddie, a couple of the volunteers or the marshals, even had them signalling it was going right. I mean, everyone to the right of that ball, they knew it was coming.
“So to me it's kind of a nonissue. I'm not really sure why he (MacIntyre) decided to make such an issue about it. I know it hit his caddie's mom's hands off the bounce, and that's unfortunate.
“But as far as I'm concerned, a number of people yelled "fore." He made the argument that since I hit the ball that it maybe should have come out of my mouth first. I guess I can see that.
“But it's unfortunate it ended up the way it did. It certainly wasn't my intention to put anyone in harm's way. I had my wife in the gallery, my coaches. So I'm surprised it's kind of come to this point.”
READ MORE: MacIntyre fumes at US golfer
Asked if he usually shouts fore after a wayward shot, Stanley replied: “When I hit it off line I do.
“But this was a unique situation. You have marshals on the tee signalling where the ball is going. You have guys down there in the landing area. Everyone knew that ball was going right.
Stanley, a two-time PGA Tour winner, also took exception to MacIntyre questioning his lack of etiquette.
He said: “You know, when you talk about somebody playing within the boundaries of etiquette in golf, that's kind of a touchy situation.
“To paint somebody in a bad light, not playing within the etiquette of the game, you've got to be careful when you do that. When you tell your story, you've got to make sure you have all the details.
“From what I read last night, he didn't do that. He's a young player. I've been out here a while. So I don't feel the need to be schooled on the rules of golf or what to do when you hit a shot off line.
“I went up there (to where the ball landed) and the first thing that I asked everybody was if I hit anybody. And nobody gave me an indication that I did.
“That's the first thing you do when you hit a ball off line, when you get up there you ask, ‘did it hit anybody? Is everybody okay?’ And that's what I did. No one told me I hit anybody. I found out in the scorer's trailer while we were signing the card after our round.”
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