Jose Manuel Lara was disqualified from the BMW International Open in Cologne today after his caddie discovered he had an extra club in his bag and then tried to hide it in a bush.
Lara’s playing partners, Ireland’s Damien McGrane and Swede Peter Hedblom, confronted the caddie after they saw him acting suspiciously on the second hole.
European Tour chief referee John Paramor said: “The caddie was seen entering the bush with the bag of clubs. They [McGrane] and [Hedblom] went and asked the chap ‘What are you doing?’ and he sort of fumbled out an answer saying, ‘I’ve got this wrong — I’ve done something bad’. It was clear the club was out of the bag and in the bush at the time.”
Spaniard Lara completed his round with a 73 but was then disqualified. Paramor added: “We are satisfied the player had no knowledge of what was going on.”
