Meet the reformed cocaine-dealing caddie who is calling out the UK government’s ‘double standards’ after being denied a visa for The Open, despite turning his life around after serving more than 10 years in JAIL
The friendly voice at the end of the phone sounds jovial but, as Eric Larson talks disappointment and double standards, you need not strain your ears to hear the steel in the words of a man left behind.
Larson should be at Royal Portrush now, carrying the bag for Harris English, the American who began the day tied for fifth on the leader board, as he has done for eight years, winning three PGA Tour titles, and on these shores for the past four Open Championships
But he’s not. He’s in Palm Beach Gardens watching his man from the sofa, tracking his scores on his phone and sending text messages across the ocean.
A change to the UK’s travel restrictions for Americans with a criminal record and a former life including more than a decade in prison for a 30-year-old cocaine conviction saw Larson barred from entering the country. English instead has his putting coach Ramon Bescansa on the bag.
Larson, now 64, thought he’d moved on a long time ago. We talk for over an hour about his sensational journey – from his dealing to his downfall, to washing pots in prison and earning a degree behind bars, but most importantly to how he’d tried to make sure all of it stayed in the past.
He can’t help but notice how others have been allowed to do it, like Ryan Peake, the Australian with a British passport, who joined a motorcycle gang and spent five years in one of the world’s toughest prisons for his part in a baseball bat assault that left another man with a broken skull but is still playing this week.
Caddie Eric Larson has been barred from The Open because of a 30-year-old cocaine conviction – despite the likes of Ryan Peake and Angel Cabrera getting back into the game
He should be carrying the bag for Harris English, but is instead sat watching from the couch
He insists he has nothing against Peake (pictured), who spent five years in prison for his part in an assault, but does says that it ‘seems like a double standard’
Or Angel Cabrera, the former Masters champion jailed for assault, theft and intimidation against former girlfriends and who will play in the Seniors Open next week.
‘I’ve got nothing against Ryan Peake, I think it’s a great story, I’d support that in a heartbeat, but it seems like a double standard,’ Larson tells Mail Sport in his first interview since being barred from entering the country.
‘If he’s in there and Angel Cabrera gets to play in the seniors next week, why are their cases any different to mine? I’m a human being. This is my job, my livelihood.
‘My case is 30 years ago. It’s just strange how I’ve gone over there all these years with never a problem. And then all of a sudden, boom. I never thought for a second this would have been an issue.’
It was a month before his flight was due to leave for Scottish Open that Larson found out he needed an ETA, an electronic travel authorisation, to enter the UK but when he confessed to his previous conviction on his application, it got rejected. Then so did his visa. He plans to plead for a pardon from US president Donald Trump.
The PGA Tour wrote a letter to the UK Government. So did the R&A. So did English. So did Kevin Gay, who runs the Operation New Hope charity that works with getting ex-offenders back into the workplace. They urged Larson’s case to be granted, as it can be, on exceptional or compassionate grounds.
‘This is my second chance at life,’ says Larson. ‘When I got out, I wanted to caddy again, I wanted to win golf tournaments, I wanted to caddy in the Ryder Cup, in the President’s Cup, and I’ve done it all. My next goal is to win a major. Well, they just took one of my goals away from me because of something for which I’ve paid my time.
‘No one knows more than me how wrong I was to do what I did. But I did all the right things when I got out and, here I am, 20 years later, getting penalised for something I’ve already paid a heavy price. It doesn’t just hurt me, it hurts Harris.
Angel Cabrera will play in the Seniors Open next week despite his former jail time
Larson used to be the caddie for Anthony Kim (right), first coming to the UK in 2008
‘I’m having the United Kingdom telling me I don’t fit the criteria for an exceptional or compassionate case. Well, I beg to differ. I think it’s really exceptional.’
Larson is pleased we’ve called. He hoped someone would. He’s read all the headlines this week about the cocaine-dealing caddie and believes that doesn’t tell the full story. So, he wants to tell it.
He first flew over to the UK to carry the bag for Anthony Kim in 2008. He was here, too, for the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in 2010. And the one at Whistling Straits in his homeland at 2021. He’s been at the last four Opens with English. He’s won five times on the PGA Tour, the last at the Farmers Insurance with English in January.
But back to where the trouble began. The younger Larson saw how easy it was for his friends to make money selling drugs. Too easy. He also had friends in the Midwest who wanted cocaine and he knew people who could provide it.
‘I never used cocaine,’ says Larson. ‘I sold it to friends, they did what they did with it, made their buddy and I made my money. I did it for monetary reasons. There’s nothing that could justify what I did, but I did it, and I owned it and I paid a hefty price.’
He never got caught dealing cocaine but, in 1993, two years after starting on the PGA Tour, a former acquaintance ratted him out and old phone records and wire transfers proved his downfall. He was sent down for conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Tennessee and because it crossed state lines, he faced federal charges.
Larson was acquitted at one trial but plead guilty at a second. He accepted 13 years and a $25,000 fine. He served nearly 11 years. ‘Ten years, 10 months, seven days,’ if we’re being technical,’ says Larson. He was 34 when he went in, 45 when he came out.
His father died while he was in prison. So did his grandmother, aunt and nephew. He attended none of the funerals. His nephew was only 19. ‘He was a passenger in a car, I never got to see him grow up, and never got to be there for my brothers and my family and that’s sad.’
He says he has been denied his dream of winning a major – for the time being, at least
English described Larson, known as ‘E’ to his friends, as the ‘most positive and joyous’ man he’s ever met this week. You get that sense as Larson talks about more than a decade of his life behind bars. His memories focus, not on the time and people lost, but on the degree in business administration he earned during those years, the basketball and softball leagues he played in, his work in the kitchens, the letters he wrote to the judge to update him on his achievements.
‘From that point on, I was on a mission to put it all behind me, to get out and do what I love and enjoy,’ he says. ‘I just wanted to make my days good again and show people there is life after prison.’
And, until now, there has been. He caddied for Mark Calcavecchia before he went to prison and did so as soon as he came out. They won the BellSouth Classic together just before Larson was sentenced and the PODS Championship a little over a year after his release.
‘Fortunately, everyone who knew me beforehand stood behind me when I got out of prison. Freddie Couples and Phil Mickelson. They all shook my hand and said “welcome back”. There is no better feeling than that. Ask anyone on the Tour, from Phil to Rory, they will say he’s paid his dues.
English said this week that everyone keeps asking after Larson and how sad they are he’s not walking the links at Portrush alongside him. Unless the UK change their mind, he won’t be doing so ever again.
‘I know what I did was wrong but if I can help somebody else down the road so that they don’t get caught in this situation, I will. What’s happened needs to be addressed. I’ll continue to be as exceptional as I can and, hopefully, the UK government will feel the same way and I can come back.’
