Professional golfer Bowling arrested for ‘sexting and proposing to meet up with undercover detective posing as 15yo girl’

Police have revealed that pro golfer Dan Bowling has been arrested for sending explicit texts to a detective who was posing as an underage teenage girl, with authorities in Orlando describing him as a "dangerous online predator".

The Canadian, 26, is said to have been chatting up a detective online who he allegedly believed was a 15-year-old since April.

According to Florida police, the conversations "turned sexual in nature" and "intensified quickly” within the first 24 hours of contact between the pair on site AdChat.

The police statement said that Bowling was apprehended in the popular tourist destination "as he arrived to meet up with the decoy" this week.

He was later hit with charges of obscene communication, traveling to meet with a minor and attempted lewd and lascivious molestation, People magazine has claimed.

Commenting on the matter, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force's Jennifer Wing said: "Unfortunately, there are potentially hundreds of predators like Mr Bowling online.

"I hope news of today’s arrest encourages parents to be more proactive in monitoring their children’s lives online."

Yahoo Sports reported that Bowling hasn't competed professionally in golf since 2016 and is also not listed among the Official World Golf Rankings.

But his Instagram, where he is known as "The real DRB kid", is littered with photos related to his sport. 

In his bio on the platform, he claims to be a "Pro golfer travelling PGA Tour events one Monday at a time".

And last week, Bowling posted a video which showed him "Down in North Carolina for the Wells Fargo Monday qualifying".

"Been putting in the work last few weeks with my guys," he wrote in a caption.