A Story About an Alleged Kidnapping That Unravels More Each Day.
After missing Friday’s cut at the Sony Open last week in Hawaii, Australia’s Robert Allenby caught a taxi to a wine bar close to the tournament facilities and his hotel with some friends, including his caddie.
Around 11:00 p.m. local time, Allenby paid his bill at the bar and went to the restroom. That ends the portion of the story that hasn’t been contradicted or refuted by an eyewitness.
During Saturday’s third round of the Sony Open, Steve Sands reported breaking news that Allenby had been kidnapped, beaten, and robbed, then left in a park after being thrown from the trunk of a
car six miles from his hotel. Allenby claimed a homeless woman and a plain-clothed military man helped him into a cab and sent him back to his hotel.
Around 2:00 a.m., Allenby reported the incident to the Honolulu police.
Robert did an interview on Sunday with Steve Sands talking about the shock of the ordeal and being thankful he’s still alive.
On Monday, Allenby’s story began to unravel.
An Australian news station interviewed the homeless woman and her version contradicted Allenby’s story. The woman, Charade Keane, claims Allenby was arguing with two men around the corner from the wine bar. Robert believed the two men were the ones who robbed him and was trying to negotiate paying them $500 to return his wallet and phone.
Allenby sent a text message to the Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte suggesting Keane must be getting paid to lie.
By Tuesday, Allenby had changed his tune towards Keane. He met her on camera to thank her for looking after him and present her with a $1000 gift card.
Wednesday January 21, the Daily Mail Australia caught up with one of the two men seen arguing with Allenby. Toa Kaili said he came upon the golfer passed out with a bloody face after hitting it on a rock. Kaili and his friend woke Allenby up upon which time the golfer starts accusing the two men of robbery.
(Kaili reports Allenby yelling at the men, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m a millionaire.” In my opinion, a modern day athlete yelling about their money is the first believable portion of this entire story.)
It was Thursday that the missing piece fell into place. This story was only missing one thing and it was on the tip of your tongue, wasn’t it? That’s right, another homeless man, Chris Khamis, claimed Allenby went to a local strip club. Allenby told Khamis he must have been drugged at the club.
There had to be a strip club in the mix somewhere, right?
It is also revealed that Allenby’s Platinum American Express (that he waved around professing his wealth) had $10,000 worth of charges put on it.
Sunday, January 25, GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard reported on his four day investigation on the incident. Hoggard provides a detailed account of the information, including the AmEx charges reaching $20,000 and Allenby ringing up a $3400 tab at the strip club.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun offers some different details in a less diplomatic tone.
Allenby withdrew from this past weekend’s Humana Challenge. He will play in this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open and even more exciting is the news that he will take questions on Tuesday from the press.
Each new snippet seems to create even more questions. The strongest question on my mind is why make up a story? Allenby isn’t married, so I don’t see lying in a police report even close to necessary to cover up a strip club tab.
We’ll find out soon if we finally get answers or just more confusion.
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