Cries of 'Help" are not normally heard at a golf tournament, but they were on Friday when a 69-year-old marshal had to be rescued from a lake.
Play in the European Tour's Portugal Masters in Vilamoura was halted for a short time after Graham Finch, a former captain of the High Post club in Salisbury, slid into the water on the seventh hole.
"It was not funny at the time. I was frightened - it's no good saying I wasn't," said Finch.
"I was up to my neck and I can swim only a few yards, so I cried out.
"At first someone came with an umbrella to try to pull me back to dry land, but I couldn't reach it and every time I tried to put a foot down I went further in.
"But another marshal was brilliant then. He came in and pushed me so I could reach the rocks and clamber out.
"I'd been watching drives and had taken a few backward steps when suddenly I did the splits and went down into the lake. It was like going down a children's slide."
After being given a change of clothing and time to recover from what he called "my lucky escape", Finch, who spends part of each year in the Algarve and is also an ex-captain of Quinta do Lago, was back working - at the same spot.
When the incident happening Jean Van de Velde - famous, of course, for his water exploits in the 1999 Open at Carnoustie - was playing the hole.
The rescue act was performed by Portuguese marshal Miguel Palhoa.
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