Golfer Danny Lee was at the centre of an incident at Auckland International Airport before he left with the New Zealand team for the amateur world championship in Australia, it was revealed today.
Lee reportedly made an "inappropriate comment" about the contents of his bag, which led to
him being questioned by airport authorities and police after the team checked in for a flight to Adelaide.
The 18-year-old from Rotorua was allowed to board the flight, but his form was poor at the Eisenhower Trophy championship as New Zealand finished in a share of 11th place.
New Zealand Golf chief executive Bill MacGowan confirmed that an incident had taken place.
"There was a minor incident at Auckland airport...it was a throwaway comment, but it was said in the wrong place," he told The Dominion Post.
"They talked to him at the airport, they had a conversation with him about it and it is still being dealt with.
"They haven't served him any papers, they haven't done anything. They just talked to him and we are waiting to hear what happens next."
MacGowan did not know exactly what Lee said, but said it was clearly "inappropriate" for the venue.
"It was a silly thing to say, silly time to say it and we are working closely with the police to see what the outcome will be."
New Zealand Aviation Security Services general manager Chris Everitt told the paper said his staff were not involved in the incident, but dealt with six to eight inappropriate comments a month.
"People say they've got a gun in their pocket or, `obviously there's a bomb in my bag'. We've heard it 100,000 times but we've got to take it seriously."
- NZPA
