Re: Big Fight At S'pore Island Club Golf Green Between Golfers and The Poor Nature Lo
FULL REPORT HERE..
Golfers, youths in brawl on green
Fight erupts after the golfers accuse youths of trespassing on the green
By Jessica Lim
The fight ended when the police arrived. Eight youths were arrested and one golfer taken to hospital. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
A FIGHT erupted yesterday between a group of golfers at the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) and a group of youths accused of trespassing on the green.
Allegedly, punches were thrown, golf balls flung and clubs swung.
When the dust settled after the police arrived, eight youths were arrested and one golfer taken to hospital.
Golfer Robert Tan, 52, landed in hospital with the back of his head sore, allegedly from being clobbered. He said he did not know who or what hit him.
The golfers, who were having their weekly game at the club near MacRitchie Reservoir, said they saw three youths snoozing in a tee box near the fourth hole at about 10am.
One of the golfers, Mr Lawrence Loh, 59, woke them up and asked them to leave because it was 'dangerous' for them to be there.
He also pointed out that the golf course was private property. He said one of the youths started kicking a tee box marker around like a ball, parroting his words.
'They just kept repeating what I said - in a hostile manner,' he said.
'That was when I raised my voice and told them to go away. Then one of them ran towards me to try to punch me.'
That triggered the clash. The youths were joined by a second lot of shirtless and tattooed individuals who emerged from a forested area behind the golf course.
Spades, tee markers and golf balls were flying in all directions, said Mr Loh, who said he also saw one youth swinging a golf club around.
While all this was happening, Mr Tan, who was a distance from the action, reached for his cellphone to call the police.
As he was about to dial 999, a youth came up to him and begged him not to make the call because his friends were 'drunk and did not know what they were doing'.
Mr Tan, a branding consultant, said from his bed at Tan Tock Seng Hospital that his back was to the youth then, and 'before I knew it, I was kicked and felt a sharp pain on the back of my head'.
He crumpled to the grass and was unable to get up from the shock.
The fight broke up as quickly as it escalated when the police arrived on the scene.
By then, Mr Loh was nursing a cut on his left cheek, while two other golfers had picked up bruises on their hands.
Mr Tan told the police who interviewed him at his bedside that he did not hit back at his attacker.
Asked if any of his golfer friends struck back at the youths, he said he was not aware if that had happened.
It is not known if both groups of youths knew each other.
Twenty-year-old Siti Shahirah Said Furrdin, who said she was the girlfriend of one of the youths who joined the brawl later, said she and her friends were taking a walk in the forested area near MacRitchie Reservoir to see the monkeys after a night of drinking at VivoCity.
They were trying to find their way out of the forest when they wandered onto the golf course. There were no signs saying they could not be there, said the young woman, who is unemployed.
'Then a ball came whizzing and hit my friend in the face,' she said.
She said her group next approached the golfer whom they claimed had thrown the ball to ask for an apology.
None was given, she said.
In response, the golfer, who was clutching a golf club, started punching her friend, she alleged.
She said her friends did not retaliate. The police had arrived by then.
Ms Shahirah, who watched the fracas from the sidelines, was not arrested.
Police confirmed that they received a call yesterday morning about a dispute on the green, which ended with the arrest of eight youths and with one golfer being taken to hospital.
All the youths are believed to be Singaporean males, aged between 13 and 25.
SICC declined comment.
Mr Tan's wife Lei May, 52, said: 'I was so upset when I heard what happened. After all, he was just going to play golf.'
She called for a clearer demarcation between SICC and the reservoir area, which is public space.
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