{"id":778410,"date":"2026-09-22T01:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/778410\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T01:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:56:16","slug":"donald-trump-pardons-pga-tour-stars-banned-caddie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/778410\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump PARDONS PGA Tour star’s banned caddie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe PGA Tour bagman appeared out of options \u2013 then President Donald Trump got involved\u2026<\/p>\n

Harris English could not hide his frustration in Scotland. <\/p>\n

Back in July, English told TG exactly what he thought<\/a> of his caddie Eric Larson being banned from the UK \u2013 meaning he was without his close friend at The Open<\/a> for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll stand by that man for anything,\u201d the American said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a lot for my career. We\u2019ve been together for nine years,\u00a0and I hate it that he\u2019s not able to come over here. He paid his price\u00a0spending 10 years in prison,\u00a0and he\u2019s still being hurt for that,\u00a0and he\u2019s gotten his life turned around. It\u2019s just disappointing that he can\u2019t come over\u00a0and be on the bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson was barred because of drug convictions more than 30 years ago, when he served jail time for sending cocaine to friends in the Midwest. He was fully released in 2006 and turned his life around. Mark Calcavecchia, the former Open champion, re-hired Larson after his imprisonment and he has since worked at Ryder Cups<\/a> with English, Anthony Kim and Jeff Overton.<\/p>\n

But after a recent change to the UK\u2019s Electronic Travel Authority Visa, which stipulates that Americans who have committed a crime which carries a 12-month prison sentence can be refused entry, Larson was seemingly out of options. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know what else to do,\u201d English said, after arduous efforts for a new visa application with letters of support from the R&A and PGA Tour, came up short. \u201cHe\u2019s tried everything. We\u2019ve contacted a lot of people to try to help him out,\u00a0and I don\u2019t understand why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then up stepped Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

This month Trump signed a presidential pardon which will finally free Larson to loop for English in the game\u2019s oldest major, as well as the Genesis Scottish Open, and any other tournament he chooses to play on British soil. The pardon was signed on September 3, and, according to the New York Post<\/a>, it came after English and Larson played with the president at his Trump National course in West Palm Beach in December.<\/p>\n

\"HarrisPresident Donald Trump has pardoned Harris English\u2019s caddie, Eric Larson, who was banned from entering the UK for The Open due to a past criminal conviction. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so pumped for Eric that he can have his rights back and travel to be by my side and work for me specifically at the Scottish Open and the British Open,\u201d English told the publication. \u201cHe knows what it\u2019s like to have your freedom taken away. He just brings so much joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson says he is grateful that he now \u201chas a chance\u201d. The veteran looper was keen to stress that he went through the appropriate channels to get his pardon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Justice went through all my paperwork and all my prison paperwork,\u201d he said. \u201cIt went through the process. I want it to be based on my merits, not because I know him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson added: \u201cAs much as this is for me, it\u2019s support of people that have supported me as well to to show them that, you know, I\u2019ve done all the right things to improve myself and and you know be to be forgiven and get on with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The PGA Tour bagman appeared out of options \u2013 then President Donald Trump got involved\u2026 Harris English could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-778410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}