This morning around dawn, as Stevens Park Golf Course was preparing for the day, a worker passing noticed something odd sticking out of the sand trap on the 18th hole. Closer inspection revealed it to be a silver 2004 Ford sedan.
Police were called to the club and, through careful detective work, were able to construct a narrative of events. Some time between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, an unknown person steered the car onto the golf course, presumably from the parking lot on Montclair Avenue, past the 18th green, and into a sand trap.
Whether this was intentional is unclear. What is clear is that the car became stuck. The driver revved the engine in hopes of freeing the car, but the tires only dug deeper into the sand. Eventually, the driver gave up and left the golf course on foot, though not before causing $2,000 worth of damage to the sand trap's lower layer.
The guy at the Stevens Park pro shop didn't have any information. He'd heard about the car in the sand trap, of course, but the morning crew had just left. Police say the car hadn't been reported stolen but was towed the the auto pound, where its rightful owner can pick it up, right after telling detectives the perfectly reasonable, legal way it wound up in the sand trap of a public golf course. It's probably best, though, to finish sleeping off last night's bender first.
