A man about to take his shot on a Mulwala golf club fairway has been knocked to the ground by a drenched stranger who had just emerged from the Murray River.
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Hayden James Kelleher then forced the man's golfing partner out of their electric buggy and drove off.
The pair phoned triple-0 from the middle of the seventh fairway at Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort.
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Both NSW and Victorian police turned out, with Yarrawonga officers soon after arresting Kelleher on the grounds of Club Mulwala.
The first golfer had warned Kelleher several times to stop as he approached him while trying to take his second shot early on Sunday afternoon.
They were alarmed at the incoherent shouting they had heard just minutes earlier, as Kelleher tried to cross the river in a small boat.
Defence lawyer Jack Murray told Albury Local Court magistrate Richard Funston on Monday there was no doubting the strangeness of what his client did.
"It's quite absurd and inexplicable behaviour," he said, after entering pleas of guilty on behalf of Kelleher.
The 38-year-old appeared via a video link to the Albury police station cells, but made no comment on the charges of take or drive conveyance without consent of owner, common assault and resisting police.
Mr Murray said the carpenter's illicit drug addiction aggravated his offending.
"Whatever's going on in your life," Mr Funston told Kelleher, "you have got to get off the drugs because it's clearly resulting in you showing some very, very unusual behaviour."
The two golfers teed-off on the seventh hole about 12.40pm then heard yelling from the nearby Murray.
At the time, Kelleher was halfway across the river.
They then heard more yelling, just as the first man landed his tee shot in the middle of the fairway. They got into their green E-Z-Go electric golf buggy and headed to where the ball landed.
The man was preparing to take his second shot when they saw a soaking-wet Kelleher walking towards them.
He held up his hands and told Kelleher several times, without success, to stop - the last with the warning: "Or I'll have to defend myself."
Instead, Kelleher shoved the man, who tried to retaliate with a swinging golf club but missed before stumbling backwards and falling. Kelleher landed on top of him.
Kelleher was placed on a 12-month community corrections order, with supervision.
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