President Donald Trump has granted a full pardon to Eric Larson, the longtime caddie for PGA Tour pro Harris English, clearing a federal drug trafficking conviction that has kept him out of the United Kingdom. Per Bob Harig of the Daily Drive, Trump signed the pardon on September 3, one of more than two dozen he issued that day.
Larson was sentenced in 1995 in the Western District of Michigan to 156 months in prison, five years of supervised release and a $25,000 fine for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, after a supplier turned him in for shipping cocaine to friends outside Florida. He left prison in 2006. Larson has caddied for Mark Calcavecchia, Anthony Kim and Jeff Overton, and has been on English’s bag since 2017, working multiple Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups along the way. In 2025, the UK began denying him entry under its Electronic Travel Authorization rules because of the old conviction, keeping him off the bag at the Scottish Open and The Open Championship the past two years.
Larson told the New York Post, “I got a chance now [to travel to the UK].” He added that he’s stayed on the right path since his conviction and plans to keep caddying as long as he’s able.
English said he was thrilled to have Larson eligible to travel again, calling the UK’s past refusals frustrating. He described Larson as someone who brings a lot of joy to the team and said he’s hoping to have him on the bag for both the Scottish Open and The Open going forward. English, the PGA Tour, PGA of America and the R&A had all reportedly written letters of support for Larson before the pardon, per Pro Golf Weekly. English said earlier this year, “He did his time in prison. Everybody out here knows him.”
Larson said he first met Trump back in 2009 while caddying for Anthony Kim and Jeff Overton, but that those interactions stayed strictly personal. He maintains the pardon was granted on the strength of his own record rather than any connection to the president. Larson applied for clemency through the federal process earlier this year, spending more than $22,000 in legal fees trying to gain UK entry before turning to the pardon process, and said he wanted the case judged on its merits rather than his connection to Trump.
The pardon clears Larson’s federal record and restores rights like voting and jury service, but it doesn’t guarantee UK entry by itself. UK Home Office guidance states that foreign pardons don’t automatically override consideration of the underlying conviction, and its Electronic Travel Authorisation rules require refusal in cases involving custodial sentences of at least 12 months. Larson will still need to apply for a standard visitor visa. He told the Daily Drive, “I’ve got a presidential pardon. How are they not going to let me in?”
Missing the 2025 Open cost Larson an estimated $126,000 in caddie earnings. St Andrews hosts The Open again in July 2027, giving Larson a target date if his visa clears in time.
This isn’t the first time a Trump clemency decision has touched golf. In 2021, Trump commuted the sentence of sports bettor Billy Walters, convicted in 2017 of insider trading tied to Dean Foods stock. Phil Mickelson, Butch Harmon, David Feherty and Peter Jacobsen were listed among those who supported the commutation. Mickelson faced no criminal charges in the case but agreed in 2016 to repay more than $931,000 in trading profits, plus about $105,000 in interest, as a relief defendant. A commutation only shortens a sentence and leaves the conviction on the record, unlike Larson’s full pardon.
