It’s a story so scarcely believable that you just have to laugh.
What sets apart many a professional golfer is their ability to remain cool under the pressure, but on occasion it can get the better of the best. That was the case for six-time DP World Tour winner Joost Luiten during the final round of the DP World Tour Championship.
After dropping his second shot of the day at the eighth, the Dutchman’s frustrations boiled over when he struck an errant tee shot at the ninth.
His reaction was to throw his driver up a tree. Harmless, you’d imagine, only it got stuck there.
He then tried to retrieve the club by throwing two other clubs at it – only both of those also got stuck in the branches of the tree.
“I had just made bogey at the eighth,” he reflected post round. “I was frustrated, one of those weeks [when] nothing went my way.
“Lost it and threw my driver and it got stuck up a tree. That sums up my week nicely.
“I tried to get it out by throwing some other clubs at it and [two] other clubs got stuck up the tree so I couldn’t get them out.”
Luiten moved on and proceeded to play the rest of the final hole of the front nine with 11 clubs, recording a bogey to drop to five over for the tournament.
Fortunately, thanks to the help of volunteer, his clubs were eventually retrieved in time for him to play the tenth.
His wife Melanie-Jane, who is eight months pregnant with their first child and was watching the round play out, helped in returning the clubs to his husband.
“I just went on and played the rest of the hole and one of the volunteers got them out, otherwise it would have been a funny round to finish with 11 clubs.”
Luiten, who has seven top tens this season, made three birdies in a row from the 13th on the back nine to card a 73 – a round that will likely live long in his memory.
