US sports activities foyer Home Office for journey exemption after golf caddie refused UK entry | Golf

Sports organisations within the US will press the Home Office to use exemptions to new journey guidelines for American residents getting into the UK, after Harris English’s caddie missed out on round £130,000 by being denied entry for the Scottish Open and the Open Championship.

The case of Eric Larson has alerted sport governing our bodies such because the NFL and NBA, which stage video games in London, that sportspeople or employees may be prohibited from getting into the UK beneath digital journey authorisation (ETA) guidelines if they’ve a prison conviction. Larson was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 1995 for involvement in drug dealing and rebuilt his profession as a caddie for a number of main PGA Tour gamers after serving 10 years.

Larson’s previous had been largely forgotten till the Scottish Open, when it was revealed that any American citizen given a custodial sentence of at the least 12 months will now be denied UK entry. ETA implementation began in January this 12 months.

Larson was refused journey regardless of lobbying to the Home Office from the PGA Tour and the R&A. English tied twenty second in Scotland and completed second within the Open. Caddies usually obtain round 10% of their participant’s winnings; English earned greater than £1.8m from his UK journey. As issues stand, Larson will encounter the identical scenario in 2026.

The American our bodies will level to the truth that Donald Trump’s ban on residents from a dozen international locations getting into the US – one other seven have been served with restrictions – incorporates an exemption supposed to use to gamers, employees or related households linked to the 2026 Fifa World Cup or the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. No such leeway exists presently for the UK border.

“Sporting bodies are now asking the UK to apply sporting exemptions on this system,” a senior determine inside US sport stated. The Home Office didn’t provide touch upon whether or not it has already been requested to use sporting exemptions on the ETA and what any response in the direction of this could be.

A supply with information of the Home Office place stated: “Each application for a decision outside the rules is considered on its merits but informed by previous examples and precedents.”

The identical supply confirmed the “mandatory and automatic refusal of entry clearance for individuals who have received a previous custodial sentence of at least 12 months”.

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The NFL will return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for matches on back-to-back weekends in October. The NBA introduced final week that video games shall be staged in London in early 2026 and Manchester the next 12 months.

An apparent anomaly with the UK’s current stance may be demonstrated inside golf. Ángel Cabrera acquired a multiyear jail time period for crimes towards girls. The former Masters champion, from Argentina, performed within the Senior Open at Sunningdale in July. The Australian Ryan Peake participated within the Open at Royal Portrush, six years after being launched from jail on a critical assault conviction. Peake is known to carry a UK passport.