Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen, a former European Ryder Cup player and current world number 62 has been suspended by the European Tour pending the outcome of his trial on charges of sexual assault and drunkenness on a flight from Memphis to London.
According to various reports, Olesen was allegedly drunk and unruly with other passengers and had to be calmed by fellow golfer Ian Poulter, who was seated nearby. Poulter then went to sleep, after which Olesen is alleged by fellow passengers to have sexually assaulted a female passenger, argued with the flight crew, and urinated in the cabin of the plane. He was arrested upon landing at Heathrow airport.
“He started abusing some of the passengers and crew and then made a pass at one of the female passengers before taking a leak in the aisle,” a witness recalled.
The European Tour suspended Olesen just hours after the allegations surfaced. He is not a member of the PGA Tour. His English barrister was surprisingly quiet and reserved, issuing only a statement that his client was cooperating fully with authorities. Trial is scheduled to begin in late September.
