A golfer who took part in climate protests that disrupted the end of the US PGA Tour said he “feared for his life.”
Akshay Bhatia was finishing the final round of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut with Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim when Extinction Rebellion activists stormed the 18th green, scattering colored smoke and explosives. After the rally on Sunday afternoon, police arrested six protesters wearing T-shirts with the slogan “No golf on a dead planet.”
Bhatia said: “We were in danger of losing our lives. “We didn’t even know what was going on. But luckily the police were there to protect us, because it was just weird.”
This comes after lightning struck a tree near the course on Saturday, injuring three people and causing the event to be postponed. The match was delayed by about five minutes due to the protests, and Scheffler went on to win the tournament in a playoff. The world number one, who was himself arrested while driving at the U.S. PGA Championship last month, welcomed the police response, saying officers “resolved the issue very quickly and I’m very grateful for that.”
Mr Scheffler added: \”When something like that happens, you don\’t really know what\’s happening, so it can kind of rattle you a little bit.
\”That can be a stressful situation, and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that.\”
Extinction Rebellion blamed climate change for the lightning and wider storm on Saturday, telling the AP news agency it was \”due to increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather conditions\”. \ “I have more golf than other events, but most of them are in the weather, so golf fans need to understand stronger and more powerful climate behavior.” I said. During the incident, some in the crowd around the 18th green booed and yelled insults at the protesters. At one point, they also chanted “U-S-A.” Smoke bombs and powder left a white and red residue on the putting surface which grounds staff used blowers to clean up.
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“They left a lot of marks on the grass, which is not good for us players, especially when they’re both trying to win a golf tournament,” said fellow golfer Kim.
“But I’m very grateful to the tour and tour security for dealing with this issue so well and making us players feel safer.”