Joke backfires on Australian pranksters who claimed they bluffed their way into North Korean golf tournament

Joke hailed as 'all-time prank' turns out not to be as good as it sounds

When news that two Australian friends had posed as professional golfers and duped North Korea into allowing them to play in a Pyongyang tournament, the media went wild.

Friends Morgan Ruig and Evan Shay said that North Korean officials had demanded they "go back to make an official apology on live TV”, after they bluffed their way into a golf competition in the communist state.

But the joke, hailed as the "all-time prank" has since turned out not to be as good as it seemed.

The pair, from Brisbane, said they were playing polo in China when they decided to email organisers in North Korea for an invitation — despite not being able to play golf at all.

They claimed to have blagged their way in. “Initially we just said we were a couple of Australian golfers," Mr Ruig told site Nine News: "They said: ‘You are the Australian team,' and we sort of didn’t say no.’"

To make the fib seem legitimate they had green golf jackets made, complete with badges bearing the Australian emblem and the words: "Polo and Golf Grand Slam Tour The Orient 2016".

Mr Shay had said the officials believed the ruse. “I think their internet access is pretty limited in North Korea, so they didn’t really have too many opportunities for research.”

Pyongyang officials rolled out the red carpet for them, chauffeuring them around the capital and giving them food and beer.

But with no expertise in the sport, they performed so badly their North Korean caddie told them they had brought shame on their families, they said.

Mr Ruig told The Courier Mail after returning home they were “told by the travel agent who arranged the trip that North Korea wants us to go back to make an official apology on live TV’."

He added: “Yeah, no […] we won’t be doing that any time soon.

"Years of hard labour in a North ­Korean prison doesn’t exactly appeal.’’

Following the prank they said they had been inundated with invitations to take part in events, including a Somalian golf tournament and a US jousting competition.

A man watches a TV news program showing a file image of missile launch conducted by North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea (AP)

But the stunt stopped seeming impressive after it emerged that the Amateur Golf Open at the Pyongyang Golf Complex, which the duo competed in, was not an event put on by the North Korean government, but instead an annual event hosted by a UK-based tour company called Lupine Travel.

Players are not required to be professionals, or even to have played golf before, in order to compete.

And it seems there was no need to make fake golf jackets, since competitors dressed up in anything from raincoats to wedding dresses to play.

When CNN contacted the pair for comment, Mr Ruig confirmed that Lupine did arrange the men's visas, but refused to say more.