Tommy Fleetwood in furious X-rated reaction to ‘awful’ bad luck after caddie blunder following major rule change at Open

TOMMY FLEETWOOD dropped an X-rated reaction after suffering an “awful” stroke of bad luck after a shock caddie blunder.

The Englishman, 34, laboured to a two-over opening round of 73 at The 153rd Open at Portrush.

USA NetworkTommy Fleetwood’s ball landed in an unraked bunker[/caption]

GettyThe Englishman was undone in a sheer moment of bad luck[/caption]

But he was undone by a cruel moment – thanks to another player’s bag man.

Fleetwood tried to drive the green on the par 4 fifth hole on Thursday.

But instead his ball found the fairway bunker down the right side – about 40 yards short of the pin.

And on-course broadcaster Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay revealed the extra bad news for Fleetwood.

The experienced caddie said: “I’m not sure I have ever seen this before at a professional golf event.

“Whoever played from this bunker previously forgot to rake it, the caddie did.

“Tommy now has an awful lie, lucky to avoid the footprints that were made by the previous player.”

The R&A made a major rule change for this year’s Championship.

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Rather than having bunker marshals with each group, the organisers have given the responsibility of raking bunkers to caddies after their players have gone in.

But one caddie had clearly not done their job – as there were footmarks and messy sand in the bunker.

Thankfully, Fleetwood’s ball avoided landing in one of the divots but he was still understandably furious.

He was overheard raging: “For f***’s sake, man. F***.”

Given the lie, Paul McGinley actually thought Fleetwood got away with one – and it could easily have been a lot worse.

He told the USA Network: “What a break for Tommy.

“I don’t know what the rule is for the R&A, but certainly on the DP World Tour that caddie would be getting a big fine.

“Obviously it wasn’t done on purpose – it was a mistake for the caddie.”

Fleetwood just about dug the ball out at the first attempt – unlike poor Shaun Norris who took FOUR shots to get out of a bunker on Friday – but it clipped the lip and plopped just six yards out and in the rough.

From there, the world No13 chipped past the hole and missed his 33ft par putt to make a bogey five.

Sypathetic Mackay added: “After what he’s been through on this hole you can’t help but root for Tommy a little bit here to maybe get this one to go.

“Just an awful break, one of the worst I’ve seen the entire year for him.”

Fleetwood was asked about the incident after his round and was clearly still frustrated – but refused to hit out at the caddie to blame.

He moaned: “It wasn’t a great rake job.

“First thing is I was not very happy to be in there. That was the first thing, so that’s my fault.

“But yeah, things weren’t going well. It was like in somebody’s hitting mark that hadn’t really been raked great.

“I probably could have managed it better. I tried to hit what I thought was the right shot — like kind of duff something because I knew I couldn’t get any sort of strike perched on the ball — so I tried to duff it, but then you’ve got to get the height as well. So that was a bit harsh.

“I mean, still, you just rake the bunkers, right? It’s part of the game.

“I’m not going to hold it against anyone too much. You don’t know what was going on, you don’t know what was happening in that moment.

“I’m not going to get angry about anyone where you don’t know what’s happening, but it wasn’t great, and yeah, bunker rakers would have been nice.”

GettyCaddies must rake the bunkers after their players[/caption]

ReutersFleetwood made a bogey after the incident[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]