Lucas: Golf and protests don’t mix well

Protesters run onto the course as Scottie Scheffler, right, walks away on the 18th hole during the final round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament at TPC River Highlands, Sunday, June 23, in Cromwell, Conn. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

It is a good thing that professional golfers are such gentlemen.

Their caddies, too.

Otherwise, one of them, or their caddies, might have taken out a five iron and bashed in a few heads.

We are talking about the contested 18th hole at last Sunday’s PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., where a group of yahoos descended on the green to disrupt the event.

A couple of them wore white T-shirts with the words “NO GOLF ON A DEAD PLANET.”

The six climate change protestors from Extinction Rebellion caught golfers, cops, and the crowd by surprise when they charged onto the green, waved smoke bombs, and sprayed the putting green with red and white residue.

While the three stunned golfers — Scottie Scheffler, 28, the world’s top-ranked golfer, Tom Kim, and Akshay Bhatia, both 22 -– looked on in shock, as did their caddies, a contingent of Cromwell cops tackled, cuffed, and escorted the demonstrators away. The crowd cheered their removal, chanting “USA, USA, USA.”

Sheffler, seeing the cops, said he was “rattled.” He might even have had a flashback to when cops arrested him outside the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville in May as he made his way to the PGA Open. Charges of assaulting a cop with his car were later dropped.

This time, it is a wonder no caddie pulled out a five-iron or a driver to ward off the eco-warriors and protect their golfers.

The disruption came as Scheffler and Kim were battling it out for a one-stroke victory and a purse of $3.6 million. After the green was repaired, the pair ended up in a tie, and Scheffler won the subsequent sudden-death playoff and the $3.6 million.

Kim had to cope with second-place earnings of $2.1 million, while Bhatia, in fifth place, received $702,500.

With the money these young men make playing golf, they would be among the last people in the world to damage the earth, the climate, or any golf course. It is their life.

While the eco-warriors were booked and released after posting  $5,000 bail, a fitting punishment would be to put them to work for six months or so, replacing divots on the golf course the way that caddies do.

That would at least teach them a practical way to protect the earth and give some purpose to their meaningless lives.

The disruption is just another indication of what left-wing loony demonstrators have in store for delegates to the upcoming political conventions, the Republicans in Milwaukee on July 15 and the Democrats in Chicago on August 19.

If something as benign, stately, and beautiful as a golf course can be attacked, going after the political conventions is a no-brainer.

Only the other day JUST STOP OIL protesters stormed Stonehenge and sprayed the Neolithic stones at the World Heritage site with orange paint before they were arrested. They should have been stoned.

Democrats still have in mind the anti-Vietnam War riots that broke out at the Chicago Democrat Party convention in 1968 that tore the party apart. Police clubs, not golf clubs, and tear gas were the order of the day.

While Chicago is prepared to protect delegates and deal with pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli demonstrations this time around, anything can happen.

This is not to propose that convention delegates be issued police clubs or five irons for protection, although it is not a bad idea.

The five is, after all, a reliable iron, and it is only a wonder why one of the caddies did not pull one out of the bag to protect his golfer.

Some golfers say a five iron would be good at bashing, while others maintain that a two iron would be better.

A two-iron is so difficult to hit that only the pros can manage it. Golfers I have known over the years say that if you can hit a two-iron, you can speak to God.

My only advice is that if you are going to the convention, BYOC (bring your own clubs) and bring a caddie for protection.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com