A ball thief has cost New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox two shots during the first round at the Italian Open.
Ryan Fox Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Fox carded a one-under par 70 to be tied for 67th, eight shots off the lead.
A fan took his ball on the eighth hole, forcing him to receive a two-shot penalty and record a double bogey.
Fox took to social media after the round to call the spectator an idiot. Fox said he would happily have given them the ball after he finished the hole.
Meanwhile there's been mixed fortunes for Lydia Ko and Danny Lee at the start of their latest golf tournaments.
The 20 year old world number nine Ko is two shots off the lead in a tie for ninth after an opening round four under par 68 at the latest LPGA tour event in South Korea.
U.S. Women's Open champion Park Sung-hyun closed with a pair of birdies to join fellow Korean Kim Min-sun and Australian Minjee Lee at the top of the leaderboard.
Ko's round included 6 birdies and 2 bogeys.
The Hana Bank Championship in Incheon is worth 2.8 million dollars.
New Zealand's Danny Lee has returned to golf after an injury break with an erratic first round in Malaysia.
Lee is tied for 60th at one over par at the 10 million dollar US PGA event in Kuala Lumpur.
His round included just 2 pars.
He had 8 birdies, 2 bogeys, 2 doubles bogeys and a triple bogey.
Lee is nine shots from the leader Australian Cameron Smith.
Lee spent a few weeks out of the game as he overcame a back injury.
-RNZ
