After LIV Golf’s Harold Varner III was kicked off an Indianapolis-area golf course last week, the club and Varner have responded with their version of events.
The course, Bear Slide Golf Club in Cicero, Indiana, explained in a Facebook post on Friday morning that Varner was among six golfers who disregarded the club’s repeated instructions to not play as a sixsome during a casual round last Tuesday ahead of this week’s LIV finale in Indianapolis and were subsequently asked to leave after four holes.
The club, which is public, also refuted several details in what it called a “recent social media post,” though searches by Golf Channel for such a post on various social media platforms were unsuccessful.
According to Bear Slide, Varner booked a foursome only for the group to arrive 30 minutes late and with six golfers. The club said it accommodated the change in plans, though requested that Varner’s group play in two threesomes since sixsomes are against the club’s policy. Members of Varner’s group repeatedly insisted to play as a sixsome, first to the starter and then to another employee in the pro shop, the club said.
The club added, “One of the group members told the starter that he was being rude and needed to calm down. Another person from the group defended the starter, saying that he wasn’t being rude and was just enforcing the rules.” The club did not name Varner as either of those golfers.
Eventually, the club says Varner’s party teed off as two threesomes, but after three holes, they joined up on the par-3 fourth hole. A club staffer watched the group play the hole as a sixsome, after which Varner and the five others were asked to drive their carts in and later refunded.
The club said it told the group that it was “no longer welcome on the course,” not “get the hell off the course” as was apparently described in the initial report on social media. Also disputed was the claim that there were no groups behind Varner’s group: “Again, completely untrue,” wrote the club. “There was a group on the fourth tee waiting on them, another group on hole 3, and another two groups on hole 2.”
“Perhaps this group felt like they should get special privileges because of who they are and the organization they belong to,” the club’s statement continued. “But we believe that everyone should be treated fairly and should follow the same rules, regardless of your playing ability or connections. Bear Slide is committed to providing a great experience to everyone who plays our course. We only ask that a few rules are followed. Hopefully this helps clear the air!”
Varner, who teed off in Sunday’s final round at Chatham Hills T-16 on the leaderboard, posted a statement, written presumably by his manager, to his Instagram story on Sunday afternoon. The statement confirmed that Varner’s group was asked to leave the course, though it said Bear Slide’s statement “contains several inaccuracies and does not fairly represent what occurred.”
According to Varner’s post, Varner and his group asked if they could play a 3v3 scramble and when told no, they “respected the decision and played at pace as two separate groups of three.”
“At no point did the six golfers combine or play as a sixsome,” the statement added. “There were also no groups immediately ahead of or behind them being delayed. At the end of the fourth hole, the starter spoke with the second group and asked everyone to leave because he believed they were attempting to combine. Harold’s group was already heading to the next hole, and Harold was never personally approached or asked to leave. Once the message was relayed, the entire group left respectfully and without issue.
“We are sharing this only to ensure that the facts are represented accurately.”