Security is to be reviewed at The Open after two people allegedly stole a golf buggy and crashed it through barriers at speed close to the main spectator entrance.
The world's leading golfers are teeing off today in the tournament at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake on Merseyside.
But the event began with a bang when the electric cart was spotted by golf fans leaving the final practice day last night being driven erratically with two people on board.
It approached the metal barriers at the entrance/exit of the fourth spectator gate at speed, knocked them aside and came to rest on a banking just outside the venue.
One person was treated for minor injuries after the incident, but spectators suggested it could have been far worse. "I heard a loud crash and saw the buggy come through," said one witness, who asked not to be named. "It was pretty frightening. Somebody could very easily have been killed."
Police sources confirmed one man had been arrested and another was helping them with their inquiries following the incident, which took place at around 7pm last night.
The buggy was in the care of an official from The Royal & Ancient, the St Andrews-based governing body of golf that organises the Open.
Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, the R&A's executive director of championships, said: "There was an incident with an R&A buggy and the police, as you can see, are now investigating it.
"I can't say any more than that while it is under investigation."
Merseyside Police were not available for comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article