Ryder Cup winner Olesen charged with sexual assault on flight

LONDON: Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen has been charged with sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft and common assault and will appear in court on Aug. 21, Metropolitan Police have said.

The 29-year-old was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on July 29 and subsequently released under investigation ater returning from a World Golf Championships event in Memphis.

“A man has been charged in connection with an incident on an inbound flight to Heathrow Airport on Monday, 29 July,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in statement.

“Jacob Thorbjorn Olesen, 29, of Redcliffe Road, Kensington and Chelsea, was charged by postal requisition on Thursday, 1 August with sexual assault, being drunk on an aircrat and common assault.

“He is due to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 21 August.”

Olesen’s lawyer Paul Morris had said in a statement on Monday that his client cooperated fully with the police during their investigation.

Olesen has five European Tour victories and made his Ryder Cup debut in Paris last year, beating American Jordan Spieth in the final-day singles.

Meanwhile, Lydia Ko’s former coach David Leadbeter has said the New Zealander needs a break from golf to take stock of her career, but if she wants to return to the peak of the women’s game she has to free herself of her parents’ influence.

Ko, who as a 17-year-old became the youngest player to hold the world No. 1 ranking, has slipped to 24th in the world and missed the cut at the women’s British Open this month ater finishing with a 12-over-par 156 for her two rounds.

Only 55-year-old Laura Davies, at 13-over, had a worse score ater two rounds.

The 22-year-old also missed the cut at last month’s Evian Championship in France, the tournament she won in 2015 to become the youngest woman to win a major. Her last major win came in 2016 at the ANA Inspiration.