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GUYANCOURT, France (AP) — The mother of golfer Li Haotong went into the water at the French Open to recover her son's discarded putter. After she grabbed it, she realized it was broken and threw it back in.
Li's mother rolled up her shorts and waded through the muddy water on the Golf National course Thursday as players watched. She carefully moved forward and collected the broken club.
"I don't think il (sic) ever see a players mum trying to rescue a snapped putter from a pond again," golfer Tyrrell Hatton wrote on Twitter .
A video put on Twitter by the European Tour showed Hatton and Thomas Pieters laughing on the nearby 11th green as Li's mother realized the club was useless. Once back on dry land, she threw it into the water.
"Absolutely much (sic) watch this... priceless... she thought she was getting a nice new club...," Ian Poulter tweeted , unaware at the time that the woman was Li's mother.
Li threw his club into the water out of frustration after bogeying the par-3 11th hole. He was playing two groups ahead of Hatton and Pieters at the tournament, which started Thursday on the outskirts of Paris.
After the incident, Li played the final seven holes in level par using a sand wedge as a putter. He even birdied the 14th and finished the first round at even-par 71.
The European Tour confirmed in an email to The Associated Press it was Li's mother who recovered the broken putter.
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