Banned Open caddie misses out on huge payday adding insult to injury after emotional statement
Eric Larson missed out on bolstering his bank balance by almost £93,000 last weekend when Harris English secured a second-place finish at the Open. Larson, who has caddied for English for the last eight years, was unable to travel to Royal Portrush for the fourth major of the golfing calendar, on account of a drug conviction from more than three decades ago.
Larson, who admitted to distributing cocaine to friends, was jailed for over a decade 30 years ago. However, his past still had an impact on his ability to travel freely to the United Kingdom, due to a new rule in the overseas travel system which places restrictions on former convicts. This forced English to enlist in his short-game coach, Ramon Bescansa, for bag duties across the tournament - but a change of face clearly didn't impact his play all too much.
That's because English secured a second-place finish at the Open by the end of Sunday's play with an overall score of 13-under-par, just four strokes shy of tournament winner and world No. 1, Scottie Scheffler. Thanks to his endeavours, English took home a staggering runner-up cheque of £1.3million, while Scheffler walked away with the fifth major title of his career and a £2.2m payday.
PGA Tour stars typically reward their caddies with seven per cent of their earnings from any given tournament, meaning that Larson would have been in line for a £93,000 payday if he was by English's side. Speaking about missing the Open entirely, Larson told the Daily Mail: "This is my second chance at life.
"When I got out, I wanted to caddy again, I wanted to win golf tournaments, I wanted to caddy in the Ryder Cup, in the President's Cup, and I've done it all. My next goal is to win a major.
"Well, they took one of my goals away from me because of something for which I've paid my time. No one knows more than me how wrong I was to do what I did. But I did all the right things when I got out and, here I am, 20 years later, getting penalised for something I've already paid a heavy price."
Larson also accused the UK Government of "double standards" as Australian Ryan Peake - who once served five years in prison for assault - was permitted entry to play at Portrush. He added: "I've got nothing against Ryan Peake, I think it's a great story, I'd support that in a heartbeat, but it seems like a double standard."
While he's still searching for his first major title, English's outing at the Open comes as the second time this year that he has came agonisingly close to cementing his status among golf's legends. The 35-year-old also secured a T2 finish at this year's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Davis Riley with a score of six-under.
Scheffler once again took the trophy at that event, finishing a mammoth five strokes clear of his closest competitors. However, English has enjoyed a wealth of success on the PGA Tour alongside Larson to date.
The two were side-by-side for three of English's five wins on the Tour, winning the Sentry and the Travelers Championship in 2021 via play-offs, as well as the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year outright. Speaking about operating alongside Bescansa after the Open, English said: "'Ramon and I did a great job of coming up with a strategy. He kind of knows how I operate."
Teetering on the outside of qualifying for a Ryder Cup spot, he added: "Hopefully I can get in that top six to lock up a spot," with hopes of improving on his current eighth-place OWGR position.
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