Moment divebombing seagull snatches golfer's wallet before swooping off with it

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

A golfer was left chasing the wrong kind of birdie after a divebombing seagull snatched his wallet and swooped off with it.
The visitor to Pebble Beach Golf Links, California - routinely rated the best public golf course in the US - spent his round sprinting across the picturesque seaside scenery in hot pursuit of the grabbing gull.
Golf can often move at a glacial pace but hilarious footage posted on social media shows the player haring along the fairway as the bird makes off with his cash.
The seagull circles the finely-manicured links, almost mocking the golfer, who is dressed in a light grey jumper, black trousers and white golf shoes.
As he continues the chase despite the bird pulling further away, one of his playing partners behind the camera neatly sums up the predicament, saying: 'You gotta be kidding me.'
Other golfers soon start joining the hunt with one firmly ordering: 'Drop the wallet.'
There is a collective sense of dread, however, as the seagull heads towards the cliff, still gripping the valuable item in its beak.
And, then, disaster - the bird releases the wallet as it hovers above the sea, seemingly sealing its soggy fate, a move greeted by squawks from his fellow gulls and gasps from the crowd of Pebble Beach patrons.
Some have their heads in their hands, while the now bereft golfer appears to fall to the floor in anguish.
Incidentally, there is normally plenty of room for birds in golf with a birdie denoting a one under par score on a hole, an eagle a two under par score and an albatross a three under par score - but there are no prizes whatsoever for a seagull.
It is unclear just how much money was in the wallet, although its contents would have been vastly depleted on booking the round of golf, which costs an eye-watering $735 (£546).
Pebble Beach hosted its sixth US Open, one of golf's four Majors, in 2019 and will host anothet four in the next two decades.
The course is among the States' most elite, although it remains open to the general public.
Northern Irish star Rory McIlroy won his first tournament at Pebble Beach this February, scooping up the AT&T Pro-Am title, two months before his famous Masters win.
Birds are by no means the most terrifying sight on US golf courses, with alligators and snakes common features on some fairways, particularly in Florida.
And even in the UK, the gentle civility of a golfing links can be punctured by pesky creatures.
Last June, a golfer was given a fright when he spotted a 3ft-long poisonous snake slithering across a course in Lincolnshire.
As he went to play a shot on the green, businessman Dan Owen, 58, noticed what he first thought was a stick lying in the grass ahead, before he was startled by it starting to slither towards the rough nearby.
Mr Owen managed to grab his mobile phone to film the getaway on the seventh hole at Belton Woods Golf Course, in Grantham, before the slippery customer disappeared into the undergrowth.
He suspects the creature may have been a black adder, the UK's only native breed of venomous snake, the bite of which can have severe consequences as severe as kidney failure.
The father-of-four, who runs his own manufacturing firm, said: 'It was just lying there basking as they do, basking in the sun. I thought it was a stick at first but as I got closer I got a bit of a shock.'