An Angus golf shop was attacked by a vandal on the weekend of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Carnoustie Golf Shop owner Dave McNicoll told The Courier he is ”absolutely hacked off” after a boulder was launched through the window of his premises.
He said it is the second time his High Street premises had been targeted in two years, after more than a decade without any vandalism.
”We had a similar incident last year and that was maybe exuberance or something but this time it’s different,” he said. ”Someone’s thrown a boulder they don’t tend to sit about in the High Street here and they’ve thrown it a good 25 feet into the shop.”
The 7ft by 10ft pane was broken in the early hours of Saturday, hours after fans queued up to get photographs taken with famous faces such as Bill Murray, Sir Steve Redgrave, ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius and Michael Phelps.
”It was a minute to four the alarm went off,” Mr McNicoll added. ”The glass fell out and we’ve got wooden boarding up to keep it safe.
”I’m angered about it because this time we know it’s deliberate. Whether it’s against my shop or it could easily have been the shop next door, I’m not sure.”
Mr McNicoll previously made up a ‘Wanted’ poster to put on the front of the store, with a reward for any information that will lead to the vandal being traced.
He is offering a similar £100 reward for information on the incident, but is not holding out much hope.
”I gave a reward last year for £100 but got absolutely nothing back from that, and I’ll do the same again,” he said.
The damage to the storefront will cost Mr McNicoll’s business more than £400 which represents a dent in any knock-on profits from the Dunhill’s popularity.
He said: ”It hacked me off, I’ll be honest I’ve got to pay £450 excess towards the window. It’s not a Cola bottle lying next door from a carry-out, it’s a deliberate effort to search for this large item.
”The thing was thrown from the pavement, it went up nine or 10 feet, cleared the window display. It was like a shot put, of that size.
”There are windows get broken here from time to time, through hijinks or the like, but this is different.”
A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident is being investigated. Anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious in the area at the time is asked to contact police on 0300 111 2222.