31-year-old Australian Rhein Gibson lost his cool during the final round of the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. Gibson, who headed into the 72nd hole tied for second and had a chance to force a playoff. Gibson stuttered when he hit his second shot into the water near the green meaning he would have to chip in to play an extra hole. Unfortunately, a rules official informed Gibson that his caddie, Brandon Davis, was the one who identified the ball in the hazard and picked it up, a violation of Rule 18.2 and a one-stroke penalty.
Gibson finished the final hole with a bogey and went from tied for second to third and lost out on an extra $16,000. What happened after the drop is what has people talking though. Gibson was clearly frustrated and removed his putter head cover and threw it at Davis, who later said he was fired at this moment.
“Rhein and I go over, look at it, I say ‘it’s under two rocks, we got nothing’. Rhein turns around and walks to his bag as if to say ‘forget it’ – clearly intending never to play the ball.
“Supposedly we’re a team in this game. The ball is dead, Rhein is clearly not hitting this golf ball, so I go over and pick it up.”
Gibson took to Twitter to apologize for the incident:
While Davis used his account to explain that he did nothing wrong:
You can watch Gibson’s explanation below: