Irish Open champion falls into river on final hole

Irish Open champ falls into a river Richard Finch was playing his third shot from the rough beside the 18th green next to the River Maigue when the momentum of his swing caused him to fall into the water.

"It was a bit of an awkward stance, but I felt as though -- thought possibly of chipping out sort of backwards and then hitting the next one on the green, but I never gave falling in a thought," Finch said.

Finch fell in to the cold water up to his chest.

"I didn't really envision falling," he said.

"I don't know whether I slipped or went round with momentum," Finch said. "The next thing I sort of just was gradually falling down the bank, which -- it was a case of, well, I kept trying to follow the ball, but obviously then I looked up and saw it on the green, and I was sort the in a bit of shock of, my God, what have I done?"

"I just did think, my God, it's going to take a while to live this one down," Finch said. Finch, of course, is not the first player to end up in a water hazard. Woody Austin went all the way under at the 2007 Presidents Cup, and he is still hearing about it.