Culture

Two Australians Bullshitted Their Way Into A North Korean Golf Tournament

"Australians the best people on this planet, don't @ me"

by Matilda Dixon-Smith  3 November 2016

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The world loves us Aussies, right? We’re the cheeky cobbers who trot ’round the globe, bringing our unique brand of comedy to various international sporting events. What’s not loveable about that?

Well, now we’re at it again: two 28-year-old Aussie blokes have just conned their way, in an elaborate Wedding Crashers-style prank, into the 2016 North Korean Amateur Golf Open. LARRIKINS.

While on tour in Beijing for a polo tournament (of course), they decided to toss an application into the ballot for the North Korean golf tournament. You know, as you do, on a lark. Next thing you know, Brisbane lads Morgan Ruig and Evan Shay are the national golf team representing Australia in the North Korean Amateur Open.

Now, are these mates good golfers? No, of course they’re not. But they did get custom blazers made special for the occasion. “We got them made in Beijing just at a tailor near our hotel,” Ruig told Yahoo7. “She was pretty shocked when we gave her a 24-hour turnaround, so she charged us a 40 percent surcharge for what was easily the biggest piece of clothing she’s ever made.”

Of course, it became pretty clear that they weren’t the golfing pros they had claimed to be when they fronted up at the tournament and shanked the ball straight into the water. Reportedly their shocking performance caused their caddy to remark that they had “brought great shame upon [their] families”. Oof, rough.

The blokes, who Fox News has dubbed the “Aussie Hackers”, apparently didn’t expect that anyone (other than the North Korean officials . . . eventually) would notice what they’d done. All they wanted was a good, innocent laugh — and now they’re a global phenomenon.

I mean, it’s all in good fun, but as we saw last month with the so-called “Budgie Nine” in Malaysia, sometimes other people don’t quite see things the way we Aussies do.

Still, lucky for these guys, the Open officials saw the humour. Although they “had an anxious night the night before” the boys assured reporters that, once the North Koreans worked it out, “they thought it was quite funny”.