Fans let rip at chaotic scenes in Australia

A GOLF caddie nearly got knocked out after jubilant fans threw water bottles on to the green.

Lucas Herbert was playing the ‘Watering Hole’ par-three 12th at LIV Golf’s event in Adelaide.

But the party atmosphere turned sour when his bagman Nick Pugh took a missile to the head.

Fans are encouraged to create plenty of noise on the 12th hole at The Grange Golf Club.

Players even get to choose their own song to be played when they tee off – with 5,000 fans surrounding the green at the end of the 165-yard hole.

Beer cups and bottles of water are regularly launched from the stands.

And it went too far after Aussie Herbert nailed a birdie putt.

His effort prompted him to raise a clenched fist of celebration towards the crowd and a wave of beers and bottles being hurled on to the course.

Herbert was soaking up the delight of the fans.

The commentator declared: “It’s raining amber nectar.”

But the cheers swiftly became gasps of horror when a bottle flew through the air and smashed into the back of Pugh’s head.

The caddie, holding the flagstick on the green, immediately took a knee as his Rippers star Herbert checked on him.

And that led to a flurry of comments from fans on social media.

One said: “Is this what they do at @livgolf_league events? Throw water bottles at people after they make six-foot putts? Strange game.”

Another wrote: “Idiots.”

A third fumed: “This is horrific, LIV needs to protect its players and caddies. They should put nets up all around the greens.”

A fourth replied: “Encouraging people to consume loads of alcohol results in some very unsavoury incidents such as these.”

A fifth replied: “Allowing patrons who have likely consumed various amounts of alcohol to throw bottles onto the green is okay, but if bottles happen to hit someone on said green, it’s not okay? What was LIV Golf expecting to happen?”

A sixth moaned: “Ask Lucas Herbert’s caddie after being hit behind the ear with a beer can? This is not growing golf it’s growing bogans.”

And a final user commented: “LIV is begging for “scenes” and frantic crowds this was pretty much inevitable.”

Controversial LIV Golf deliberately created the Watering Hole as “a party hole” with “the kind of buzz that goes with a larger-than-life event”.

They did try to put extra “focus on keeping everybody safe and happy” by replacing beer cans with cups – although it clearly has not worked.

Thankfully, though, Pugh escaped relatively unhurt.

Herbert said: “I was worried about him to begin with, but he’s good now.

“He’s good and he took it really well. He could have been a lot more upset with it, but he took it really well.

“It’s probably difficult to request someone who has had 15 beers to aim a water bottle away from someone. That’s maybe asking too much.

“[Playing partner] ‘Gracey’ [Branden Grace] made a putt from the top tier and some drinks landed on the green.

“That’s good fun, and it’s in the right spots so we can deal with it. A few pushed it too far.

“But the crowd self-policed and they got some boos when they were throwing things too close. That’s about as crazy as it needs to get.”