Robert Allenby sacked his caddie midway through the Canadian Open's first round on Thursday, alleging his bagman lost his cool after disagreeing on what club to use.
Mick Middlemo, who started working with Allenby earlier this year, wanted Allenby to use an 8-iron for his fourth shot at the par-5 13th — and the Australian backed him in, despite thinking a 7-iron was better for the approach.
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Allenby ended up making an 8 on the hole, and the four-time PGA Tour winner detailed the rest to scoregolf.com. He claimed Middlemo lost his cool after the 44-year-old criticized his club advice.
"I said to him, 'You know, this happens every week. This has happened for like the last three or four or five months. We keep making bad mistakes and you're not helping me in these circumstances'," said Allenby, who later withdrew after signing for a 9-over 81. "And he just lost the plot at me. He just told me I could go f— myself.
"And I said, 'Look, you need to slow down. I mean, just calm down.' And 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.'
"And he just got even closer and closer and I just said, 'That's it, you're sacked.' I said, 'I will never have you caddie ever again.'
"And we never spoke for the rest of the (first nine; Allenby started his round on No. 10) 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."
Allenby's final nine holes saw a member of the gallery — school principal Tom Fraser — step up to fill the void.
"I just said, 'Hey, Robert, just tell me what to do, where to stand,' and he was really good about it and the other caddies were helpful about where to place the bag and where to stand and how to stay out of the sightlines and stuff like that," Fraser said.
It is the latest chapter in the Allenby files of 2015. The golfer gained infamy for claiming he was kidnapped in Hawaii in January, despite local police finding no evidence of an abduction.