April 2015: April Fool’s Play?

Jon Rizzi | Colorado AvidGolfer

Tiger’s tooth. Allenby’s “kidnapping.” Weird golf news happens all the time. Can you determine which of these stories is fact and which is fiction?

1) The Swedish Golf Federation banned a golfer from playing anywhere in the country for one year because his shot struck the head of a golfer in the group in front during a scramble.

2) Citing emotional duress, a golfer in California received a $3,000 settlement from a municipal course after a severed finger popped from the hole when he pulled the pin.

3) The 19th hole has been many a golfer’s undoing, but at Traigh Golf Club in Scotland, a 14-foot sinkhole swallowed a player, dislocating her shoulder.

4) A 56-year-old Welsh “arthritis sufferer” collected more than £ 26,000 in disability benefits from 2007 to 2012, during which time he played golf walking with a pullcart, carried a 7 handicap and won a club championship.

5) As he competed with a friend to find the most lost balls in a lake, a South African golf ball hunter became the hunted when a 13-foot crocodile pulled him under and killed him.

6) Looking to get a new set of clubs with insurance money, a Florida man claimed someone had stolen his sticks from the trunk of his car. When police arrived, the man said he couldn’t open his broken trunk. The cop opened it and found the clubs.

7) A Missouri man stole 42,000 balls from one driving range, but confessed after he could not sell them.

8) Tipped off by a golf shop employee, dozens of autographseekers at a Caribbean resort caused a commotion when the “celebrity” on the tee sheet turned out to be former Westinghouse CEO Michael Jordan.

9) On a bet, a clearly inebriated golfer managed to wedge his scrotum in a ball washer on a Seattle municipal course. With his playing partners supporting him, the man received emergency medical assistance.

WARNING: ANSWERS BELOW!

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1) FICTION

2) FACT

3) FACT

4) FICTION

5) FACT

6) FACT

7) FICTION

8) FACT

9) FICTION

RELATED LINKS

Spring 2015: Honor Thy Forebears

Winter 2014: Where the Wild Things Par

Fall 2014: What Makes a PGA Tour Pro?

August 2014: Jimmy Walker, Meet Jimmy Walker

July 2014 Games of Golf

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com. Jon Rizzi is the founding editor and co-owner of this regional golf-related media company producing magazines, web content, tournaments, events and the Golf Passport.