Two robbery suspects had a rough day on Friday trying to elude police during the second round of the PGA Chrysler Championship.
After allegedly breaking into a nearby home, the two males, described by police as ”juveniles,” fled onto the Innisbrook Resort golf course which is hosting the PGA Tour.
The suspects were apprehended, with the help of sniffer dogs, after a pursuit lasting about an hour, but only after disrupting play and causing a commotion rarely seen in golf.
”We were on third tee and the cops were racing up in a cart. We had to get out of the way,” said Brian Gay, who led the tournament in scoring after the first day.
”They drove up, two groups of two, ran across the tee,” Gay added. ”Two of them stood on the tee and a couple of them ran back in the bushes. They [suspects] were back in the bushes somewhere.”
According to authorities, the suspects tried at first to blend in with the gallery but were identified, partly because they weren’t wearing tournament passes. That’s when they ran into a heavily wooded area of the course.
”One of the individuals was captured almost immediately,” PGA Tour security officer Danny Coulson said.
”The other one went to ground. We went into the woods looking for him. We first found his hat, searched for quite a bit of time. We believe he stayed in ground there.
”One of the police officers flushed him [out] and a police dog was unleashed and chased him.
”He got away from the police dog. A pursuit went on on the other golf course for quite a period of time with helicopters in pursuit.”
The suspect eventually was caught by a female FBI agent and taken into custody. Charges are expected to be filed.
Coulson said that empty gun cases were found in the backyard of the robbed house but the suspects were unarmed when apprehended. – Sapa-AFP