A dispute over cutting in line at an Indiana golf club escalated into a violent brawl, leaving one man hospitalized with broken ribs and another facing serious criminal charges, as frustrations over "proper golf etiquette" boiled over.
On Friday, at the Links at Heartland Crossing golf course, deputies with the Morgan County Sheriff's Office were called to the scene to find a victim severely wounded.
The victim told the deputies he was playing golf with a few friends when they decided to order food inside the clubhouse after finishing the front nine.
He called out two men and one woman whom he saw had cut in front of them to advance to the 10th tee and cited a lack of "proper golf etiquette" by playing through without asking.
When the victim witnessed the woman leaving the clubhouse in a golf cart, he told her "they were being a------- for cutting in front of them."
The woman flipped him off and cried back to her group, according to FOX59.
Shortly after, her husband, identified as 34-year-old Jerry Whitaker, got in the victim's face and demanded that the victim apologize for reportedly calling his wife a c---.
When he refused, Whitaker allegedly punched him in the face several times, knocking him to the ground before picking him up and slamming him back down.
The victim lost consciousness, and his playing partner told authorities it appeared as though he stopped breathing for a few seconds.
The one-sided brawl left the victim with seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken piece of vertebrae in his back.
Whitaker was arrested and taken into custody on charges of aggravated battery, disorderly conduct and battery.
He has since posted bond and is expected in court on November 18.
