The Loop
Aussie Robert Allenby reportedly kidnapped, beaten, robbed Friday night in Honolulu
Robert Allenby of Australia reportedly was kidnapped, beaten and robbed after leaving a wine bar in Honolulu after missing the cut in the Sony Open of Hawaii on Friday, the Golf Channel has reported.
Allenby's wallet, cash, credit cards and cell phone were taken, the network reported.
"Not only has he spoken to local authorities, he's also spoken to Charlie Goodwin here on site who is part of the PGA Tour security staff," Golf Channel's Steve Sands said at the end of the telecast on Saturday. "He's a former FBI agent who lives 12 months a year on Oahu…Charlie is kind of spear-heading the investigation part of this from the PGA Tour standpoint.
"Robert told authorities that just before 11 o'clock p.m. Friday night he was outside a wine bar on Waikiki Beach and that was when he was kidnapped by five or six guys, he thinks, and was robbed and beaten up. He was found about six, six-and-a-half miles away in a park, in a gutter. A woman saw him, she thinks, he says, getting out of a trunk via the guys who kidnapped him."
He had been with a friend, Anthony Puntoriero, and his caddie Michael Middlemo at the wine bar in Waikiki, though neitherwas with him when he reportedly was abducted. "He's all right now, but we are still talking to detectives," Puntoriero told Australian Associated Press.
Middlemo told the Golf Channel that Allenby was found by a miliary man who helped him, hailed a cab for which he paid, and sent him back to his hotel near Waialae Country Club, site of the Sony Open.
Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte, a Golf Channel contributor, spoke with Allenby and reported that "he said the last thing he remembers was signing the check at 10:48 p.m. What he does remember is waking up in the park and being kicked by homeless people. I would describe him as more in shock than afraid. Most of it he doesn't remember."
Ben Everill of Australian Associated Press also spoke with Allenby and reported that he said, "I didn't think I was going to survive this one. was separated from my friend in the bar after we had paid the tab at 10:48 pm and he went to the bathroom and next thing you know I'm being dumped in a park miles away."