Robert Allenby: I was abducted

PGA Tour player Robert Allenby said he was kidnapped and robbed Friday night after missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Allenby, 43, said he was at a wine bar in Waikiki when he was abducted at around 11 p.m. local time, placed in a car, driven 6 miles away and robbed.

"I didn't think I was going to survive this one," Allenby told the Australian Associated Press.

"I was separated from my friend (Anthony Puntoriero) in the bar after we had paid the tab at 10:48 p.m., and he went to the bathroom and next thing you know I'm being dumped in a park miles away.

"I only know this part because a homeless woman found me and told me she saw a few guys pull up and throw me out of the car. That is where I got the scrapes above my eye from the sidewalk."

Golf Channel first reported on the abduction Saturday night.

According to the TV report, Allenby said he was robbed of all his cash, credit cards and cell phone.

The Golf Channel showed a photo of Allenby that it said he took himself that showed a large scrape above his swollen left eye as well as scratches on his nose.

Allenby told the AAP that he was helped by a retired military man in the middle of the night after being found by the homeless woman. The man got him together and gave him money for a cab to take back to his hotel near Waialae Country Club, site of the Sony Open.

"He got me into a taxi and paid for me to get to my hotel and I called police from there," Allenby, a four-time PGA Tour winner, told AAP. "I have his details and will be getting back in touch with him for sure."

As of Saturday afternoon, Allenby and police were reviewing surveillance footage from the bar in an attempt to identify potential suspects, the Golf Channel report said. Charles Goodwin, who is part of the PGA Tour's security staff on site, is spearheading the investigation from the tour's standpoint, according to the Golf Channel. Goodwin is a former FBI agent who lives in Hawaii.

Honolulu television station KHON2 said police were investigating it as second-degree robbery.

"We have some names and numbers and they have some leads to follow up, so I am confident they will get the guys," Allenby told AAP.

"With the FBI guys involved, they're the best, the guys on the tour are awesome, and they'll get to the bottom of it."

Michael "Mick" Middlemo, Allenby's caddie, told Australia's 9 News in a phone interview Saturday that he was also at the establishment with the golfer on Friday night, but left around 10:30, just before the incident occurred.

"(Allenby said he) didn't remember leaving," Middlemo told the TV station from a Honolulu police station, where he was helping with the investigation. "He has no recollection of leaving that bar, which was ridiculous because I saw him 10 minutes earlier and he was fine. ... None of us were (drunk). ... I have no doubt that something was put in one of his drinks."

Middlemo, who was staying at a different hotel, said he didn't find out what had happened until between 6 and 7 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Allenby is not sure if he is able to leave the island yet with the ongoing investigation, but prior to the incident, he was entered into the field for next week's Humana Challenge in La Quinta, Calif.

Although he hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2001, Allenby is 27th on the tour's career money list with more than $27 million in earnings.

News of the reported abduction quickly circulated around the PGA Tour on Saturday night.

Tweeted player Ricky Barnes:

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.