Golf star drags protester off The Open course as police step in after flare lit

Billy Horschel was hailed as a hero by the Hoylake crowds after dragging away a Just Stop Oil protester during The Open Championship. The American intervened after three environmental activists wearing white Just Stop Oil T-shirts broke through security ranks at the 17th green to stage a sit-down protest.

Horschel, whose golf bag carries the colours of his football club West Ham, stepped in to help a marshal remove a woman who had emptied a bag of orange confetti on the fringe of the green to huge cheers.

The R and A had warned players not to ‘do a Jonny Bairstow’ if activists disrupted The Open but an angry Horschel was keen to take matters into his own hands as playing partners Alex Noren and Corey Connors looked on.

After a five-minute delay while security staff and police removed another woman and a man carrying a lit orange flare, Horschel got up and down from the side of the green for a par to a massive ovation.

The reception for the activists was not so sympathetic. “S***house,” shouted a fan as one protestor wa led away. The confetti was hoovered up after one more group has gone through with no further disruption to play.

Fathers For Justice targeted the Hoylake Open in 2006 with a purple powder attack.

Ahead of the Major, English star Justin Rose pleaded with Just Stop Oil to leave The Open alone.

“They believe in their cause and their cause is not outrageous, it’s just I think when you mess with what people enjoy that’s not going to make any friends,” said Rose.

“Some sporting events are sacred to people. It’s their release, their getaway from their everyday life.”