The worst environmental hazards most golfers face are bright sun and maybe a light drizzle, so you can understand Pablo Larrazabal’s surprise when he wandered straight into a swarm of angry hornets during his Friday round at the Malaysian Open.
The insects stung the Spanish golfer close to 20 times as he readied for his approach shot on the 14th hole, forcing him to jump — fully clothed — into a water hazard to escape them.
“They were three times the size of bees,” Larrazabal said, via ESPN.com. “They were huge and like 30 or 40 of them started to attack me big time. I didn’t know what to do. My caddie told me to run, so I start running like a crazy guy, but the hornets were still there, so the other players told me to jump in the lake.
“I ran to the lake, threw my scorecard down, took off my shoes and jumped in the water. It was the scariest moment of my career, for sure. I’ve never been so scared.”
Despite the stings, Larrazabal somehow kept his composure on the course. After changing into a new set of clothes, he birdied the hole en route to a 2-under-par 68, which tied him for 25th place on the leaderboard.
Check out the bizarre scene in the video below.
