Golfers losing balls is a common enough occurrence, but Dutch professional Joost Luiten took mislaying equipment to another level when he lost three of his clubs up a tree at the DP World Tour Championships in Dubai on Sunday.
Days after Rory McIlroy’s tee shot landed on a spectator’s lap, Luiten, frustrated after making a bogey, threw his driver at a tree where it got stuck.
He threw another club in a bid to retrieve the driver but the tree’s thick branches and leaves caught that as well.
As a tournament official climbed the tree and threw sticks at the well-lodged clubs in vain, Luiten continued his own rescue efforts by launching a third club at the tree.
One of the craziest things you’ll see on a golf course. @joostluiten lost THREE golf clubs up a tree.#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/cft56zPH0z
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 20, 2023
A couple of throws later he had lost a third club.
“I tried to get it out by throwing some other clubs at it and [two] other clubs got stuck up the tree so I couldn’t get them out,” Luiten said.
Luiten tried jumping and hitting the tree with a standard bearer’s sign before eventually giving up. He played the rest of the hole with 11 clubs before a volunteer rescued the lodged clubs.
The Dutchman ended the championship three-over-par, placing third from the bottom. Nicolai Hojgaard won the tournament.
“That sums up my week nicely,” Luiten said.