Caddie struck by Vijay Singh’s stray shot

Troon - An Open Championship caddie was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a stray shot from former world No 1 Vijay Singh during a practice round on Tuesday.

William Ciplinski, bagman for American veteran Marco Dawson, was lying flat out on a golf buggy when he was initially taken to the medical centre at Royal Troon.

Open officials said the injuries the caddie sustained were not serious and that he was talking and fully conscious before being transferred to hospital for overnight observation.

Ciplinski was standing on the eighth green when he was struck by an errant tee shot from Fijian Singh on the seventh hole.

Dawson qualified for the Open by winning the senior equivalent at Sunningdale 12 months ago.

The 52-year-old will tee-off at 15:21 local time (16:21 SA time) in Thursday's opening round in the company of England's Matthew Southgate and Yosuke Tsukada of Japan.