Robert Allenby has been making headlines this season for all the wrong reasons. Earlier this season, we detailed Allenby’s abduction/wallet theft after falling down drunk after missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii last January. Now he’s gone into full David Simms-mode for us. He fired his caddie in the middle of the first round of the RBC Canadian Open and pulled a spectator from the crowd to carry his bag for the remaining nine holes.
The incident with his caddie, Mick Middlemo, started on the par 5 13th hole, Allenby’s fourth hole of the round. The Aussie’s fourth shot was 150 yards away and he wanted to hit a 7 iron. Middlemo convinced him to hit 8 iron instead. The shot landed short in a water hazard leading to a triple bogey.
After the round, Allenby recounted what he told Middlemo to ScoreGolf.com:
“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 and he just lost the plot at me. He just told me I could go eff myself.”
Allenby claims Middlemo got in his face. After trying to calm the situation, but the caddie continuing to advance on him, Allenby tells Middlemo:
“That’s it, you’re sacked.”
At the turn, Mick Middlemo dropped the bag and left after allegedly telling Allenby he’d be waiting for him in the parking lot. Allenby carried his own bag to the first tee. Upon explaining the situation to an official, a spectator in the crowd volunteered to carry the bag and the golfer took him up on the offer.
Tom Fraser, a school principal from Ontario, overheard the conversation and decided to lend a hand. Fraser said the pro’s bag was “a little bit heavier than mine”. Allenby and Fraser finished the back nine in fewer strokes than the front, but after carding an 81 for the day, Allenby withdrew from the tournament.
Allenby asked for a security escort out to the parking lot.
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