First there was a troop of kangaroos.

Kangaroos on the golf course may be a common sight for any Australian golfer but they caused a stir at the Australian Women's Open in Canberra on Thursday.

The international field featuring 10 of the world's top 20 women golfers has had to get used to the large marsupials bouncing around the fairways and grazing on the greens of the Royal Canberra championship course.

Australia's capital is typically dry in summer and by February kangaroos are drawn to the lush watered courses.

That’s actually sort of amusing.

This, on the other hand, is downright scary.

Daniela Holmqvist, a 24-year old rookie golfer from Sweden, was readying a shot on the fourth hole of the Women's Australian Open in Yarnalumla when her afternoon on the links went decidedly south.

As she was preparing to take her shot out of the rough, Holmqvist felt a sharp pain in her right ankle. When she looked down she saw "a large black creature with a red spot on its back just above the sock line," she told Golf Digest.

It was the unmistakable markings of the Black Widow spider.

Moments after swatting the deadly arachnid from her leg, Holmqvist doubled over in pain.

Help was slow to arrive, so Holmqvist used a golf tee to open the bite and get the venom out – and then she completed the remaining 14 holes of golf. Unfortunately, she failed to make the cut and was eliminated from the tournament.

What will the final two rounds bring? Plagues of locust? Kim and Kanye? Or some other infliction of divine wrath.