POTUS’s love for golf might have changed a life this time. Harris English played the last two Open Championships without his regular caddie, and the reason had nothing to do with golf. That caddie is 66-year-old Eric Larson, who isn’t allowed to enter the United Kingdom because of a conviction from the 1990s. In a quick turn of events, President Donald Trump stepped in and pardoned him. Larson has now spoken about what that consideration means to him and where his UK travel plans stand.
“I’m very fortunate. I am grateful I got a chance now,” Larson told the New York Post.
For context, Larson is not seeking release from jail. He left a halfway house in 2006 after serving his federal sentence for drug trafficking. The conviction served as a lesson for him, sure, but it only became a problem in 2025. That’s when the UK began refusing him entry under its Electronic Travel Authorization requirement. Every effort to reverse the decision failed.
In January, he also applied for a presidential pardon, one that would address the conviction that kept him from working.
Trump signed his full pardon on September 3rd, one of more than two dozen he issued that day, according to the Daily Drive. The White House did not publicize this initiative, but Trump phoned Larson and English himself to break the news. In short, the pardon forgives the conviction and restores rights such as voting, jury service, and gun ownership.
Notably, Larson now has full relief in the United States, but UK entry is still not guaranteed. He must apply for a standard visitor visa, and the Daily Drive reported that it is unclear whether the pardon will get him in next year.
As for the case itself? Well, it dates back 30 years. Larson shared the story with the Post, admitting he shipped cocaine from Florida to friends in other states. But he also insisted he never used the drug himself. ESPN reports that he served 10 years and three months in federal prison before leaving a halfway house in 2006. Mark Calcavecchia then rehired him, and he has since worked Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches and helped Harris English win three PGA Tour titles.
For years, the conviction for drug trafficking did not stop him from traveling. But that changed in 2025, as the UK began requiring Americans to hold one. Larson answered the application’s conviction question honestly, and the system denied him. He tried everything, only to be rejected. His efforts included letters from the PGA Tour, the R&A, and the PGA of America, along with more than $22,000 in legal fees. The rejection also cost him work. Harris English finished second in the 2025 Open without him, so Larson missed out on roughly $126,000 in commission, by the Post’s estimate.
Only after exhausting those options did Larson reach out to the Justice Department’s office. It was the White House legal counsel who recommended a pardon. His link to Trump runs through golf. Larson says he met Trump as early as 2009 while caddying for Anthony Kim and Jeff Overton. But those meetings, he added, stayed strictly personal. He also maintains the pardon was granted based on his credentials rather than his acquaintance with the president.
Trump’s 2021 Clemency for Billy Walters
Larson’s case is not the first time golf figures have appeared around a Trump clemency decision. As his first term ended in January 2021, Trump commuted the sentence of Las Vegas sports bettor Billy Walters. Walters had been convicted in 2017 of insider trading in the Dean Foods stock case and sentenced to five years. The White House said Phil Mickelson, Butch Harmon, David Feherty, and Peter Jacobsen supported the commutation.
The list drew attention because of Mickelson’s own history with the case. In 2016, as a relief defendant, he agreed to repay more than $931,000 in Dean Foods trading profits, plus about $105,000 in interest. He faced no criminal charges, and the day after the White House release, Mickelson’s lawyer said, “Phil had nothing to do with this.”
A commutation shortened Walters’ sentence but left the conviction on his record, which is a clear difference from Larson’s pardon.
For Larson, the next date that matters is July 15, 2027, when The Open begins at St Andrews. Harris English told the Post he wants Larson beside him at both the Scottish Open and the Open. Whether the pardon can help him do that remains to be seen.