Robert Allenby thanks homeless woman for saving his life

Australian golfer Robert Allenby reported no major injuries and thanked a homeless woman for saving his life after what he described as an "unfortunate ordeal".

The 43-year-old was reportedly kidnapped from a bar, beaten and robbed in Hawaii on Friday night, and said on Sunday he had “no recollection” of it.

Allenby was at a wine bar near Waikiki with his caddie and a friend after missing the cut at the Sony Open, being held at the Waialae Country Club.

Neither his caddie or friend were present at the time of the alleged kidnapping and Allenby was later found unconscious six miles away in a park with significant facial injuries and missing his wallet, mobile phone, cash and credit cards.

In a statement released by the PGA Tour, Allenby said: “I’d like to thank the local authorities, Sony Open and PGA Tour officials and others that have assisted me throughout this unfortunate ordeal.

“I’d also like to thank the many people that have reached out with their well wishes and support.

“Medically, I thankfully didn’t suffer anything major beyond some bumps and bruises that will take a bit of time to heal.

“My plan currently is to fly back to the mainland and, at that point, evaluate my ability to play next week at the Humana Challenge. Whatever the outcome regarding my ability to play next week, I anticipate a successful rest of the 2014-15 PGA Tour season.

“Any updates on the investigation will come from local law enforcement.”

Allenby expanded further on the incident on the Sunrise programme on Australia’s 7 TV network.

“I was very fortunate, a homeless lady pretty much saved my life,” he said.

“The police and the FBI are doing the best they can to find whoever has done this. It was just one of those situations.

“We had a nice dinner, I paid the bill, my buddy got distracted and then I went to the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom some people said my buddy had already left and he’s downstairs waiting for you.

“I went downstairs because the lift was right next to the bathroom and then walked around the corner and then bang.

“And next minute I was thrown out of the boot of a car and just onto the side street, and that’s why I have all the gashes on the top (on his forehead) from where I’ve hit the road when I got thrown out.

“It was a homeless person that told me that, otherwise I would never have known.

“I have no recollection of being in the boot of the car because I was knocked unconscious straight away and I still don’t know if I was robbed before or after. Everything I had in my possession was taken.

“The police did find one of my credit cards was used in down-town Waikiki last night. Whoever did it or has them is definitely still around in town.

“There was a lot of fuss when I was in the restaurant and bar area, people saying, ‘that’s Robert Allenby, he’s a famous golfer blah blah blah’. And that maybe drew some attention for someone. There was quite a few people in there so it’s hard to pinpoint anyone.”

The tournament was won by Jimmy Walker slammed the door on his competition and rebounded from last week's disappointment with a tournament-record nine-stroke victory.

Walker, the tournament’s defending champion, started the day with a two-stroke lead but strung together three consecutive birdies midway through the round and finished with a seven-under 63 and a total of 23-under par 257.

The previous mark for largest margin of win at the tournament was seven strokes.

Walker's victory comes a week after he blew a golden chance of capturing the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in neighboring Kapalua, where he led eventual winner Patrick Reed by four strokes with four holes to play before losing in a playoff.

This time Walker showed no sign of letup as he finished his final round with seven birdies and no bogeys.

“I wanted to finish out the day like I didn’t last week,” Walker told reporters after finishing off the largest win on the PGA Tour since Brian Gay’s 10-stroke romp at the RBC Heritage in 2009.

“It was really fun. The wind picked up but I kept hitting good shots and making putts.”

After leading Matt Kuchar by two strokes for most of the front nine, Walker collected three straight birdies starting with the eighth hole and left the field playing for second place.

Scott Piercy took runner-up honors after a 66 left him at 14-under while Kuchar, Harris English and Gary Woodland all ended up at 13-under.

Kuchar was the closest contender to start the day, but failed to make a single birdie en route to a 1-over 71.

Piercy charged up the leaderboard late but never placed any real pressure on the winner.

“He’s one of the hottest players in the world,” Piercy said.

“What he’s done the last year or two years, nobody’s catching him. It’s just a cake walk.”

The 36-year-old Walker, who played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team last September, has compiled all four of his career wins in the past 15 months after the early part of his career was blighted by injury and poor form.

“I’m just more confident and more comfortable,” Walker said. “I have good people (around me). It’s quite a bit different, really.”