Australian golfer Robert Allenby is back in the headlines for the wrong reasons after splitting with his caddie midway through the first round of the US PGA Tour's Canadian Open.
Allenby is said to have verbally abused Mick Middlemo following a triple bogey on the 13th hole which saw Middlemo drop his bag and walk off the course.
Middlemo called for an 8-iron while Allenby wanted to use a 7-iron as he lined up the fourth shot on a par-five hole. Allenby proceeded to hit the shot into a creek.
The incident has sparked a war of words through the media.
"I said to him, 'You know this happens every week. This has happened for, like, the last three or four or five months'," Allenby told ScoreGolf.
"He just lost the plot at me. He just told me I could go eff myself, and I said, 'Look, you need to slow down.'
"Then he just got right in my face as if he wanted to just beat me up. I said, 'Stop being a such and such and calm down and get back into the game.'
"I said, 'I will never have you caddie ever again.' And we never spoke for the rest of the [first nine] and when we got to 18 we walked off and he said some smartass remark to me and I said, 'You don't deserve to be caddying out there.' And he just got right in my face and threatened me so I said, 'Go.' So he left."
However, Middlemo said Allenby crossed a line when he called him a "fat c***".
"He called me a 'fat c***' a few times," Middlemo told foxsports.com.au.
"It kept bubbling away and I said to him, 'I dare you to say that again'. We were yelling at each other a bit at this stage. There were a few innuendos and he slapped the putter back in my hand harder than he should have.
"[Allenby] said a bit later on, 'I'm going to get a caddie banned for life from the PGA Tour today'. I said to him, 'I assume you mean me.' He said, 'You're damn right’ and he called me a 'fat c***' again.
"I put the bag down and said 'I'm done'. When I walked back to the caddie area, I got a standing ovation."
Allenby finished nine over 81 and had a fan carry his bag for the rest of the round.
Earlier this year, Allenby was allegedly kidnapped and beaten after he failed to make the cut at a tournament in Hawaii. He says he still hasn't dealt with the incident.
3 News / RadioLIVE