When spectators take the shot – six of the worst incidents on the golf course



[ad_1]

A small hard ball can do a lot of damage

Thomas Pieters and the golf lover saw the fun side of a bizarre incident at Ballyliffin in the first round of the Irish Open . The Belgian hit his drive well to the left of the fairway at the 9th hole and his ball was found in the fan pocket. He does not play this ball as he lies.

Fun was certainly but it highlights a more serious and dangerous problem. Rory McIlroy proved it on Saturday of the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth in May. Three stray shots hit three people in his third round. The Northern Irishman did well to remain calm while he still finished the day tied at the front of the pack.

His first shot was more a haircut in the bushes on the 6th hole, when the ball detached the club on the hand of a woman. The second shot came much later on the 17th hole, where he hit a steward in the back.

Remarkably, the intendant had been hit by Sam Horsfield moments earlier. The final incident occurred on the 18th, where a woman was hit in the head near the green. This final incident turned out to be the worst as the blood was fired.

"When you see blood, the one on 18 m was a little shaky, but she rebadured me that she was fine," Rory said afterwards.

"This is never nice .. I remember playing the last round here in 2014, and Pablo Larrazabal hit a lady on the left side of 11 and did not touch it. target before end of turn.

"It's hard. You can say sorry and maybe give them a glove, but that will not do anything for them. I'm just grateful that my ball did not go where she was going and I just hope they're fine. "

Rory was blasted on social media for not shouting" before ", especially on the last hole, but he had a rational explanation:

" I did not think it was going to go that far ", he said.

"It was in the wind and there were 275 yards to the bunker with a three wood. I thought it was going in the bunker. So I did not think that someone was in danger. Obviously, this was not the case. "

Pat Perez, the American golfer, is a finalist in the stakes of the spectators: at the Open Genesis 2017, he hit two people in one round – one in the head, the only one in the world. Another in the leg: His lack of consideration for fans by not shouting a warning was attacked by fans and professionals, including Shane Lowry.

What will it take for that players start screaming.A signed ball or glove is good for anyone if they are seriously injured ???

– Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) 19 February 2017

The issue of warning crowds and crowd safety at The European Tour had to remind players in November 2016 that if they failed to give adequate warnings, they could object

Unfortunately, little has changed and although the first spectator of Ro ry was as unfortunate as it was improbable, there are many other incidents that have left the fans stunned … in more ways than one.

The viewer Edwin Curtis was sitting near the 18th green when George McNeill's car hit him at the Honda Clbadic in Palm Beach in 2014.

[19659002] Here are six of the worst:

1. Keegan Bradley

The first day of the President's Cup in 2013, hit a poor reader in the gallery, hitting a man on the head. The microphone picked up the crackling sound as the man sank to the ground. Bradley did not shout "Fore." An identical scenario and the result came with Robert Allenby at the Australian Masters in 2010.

2. Tiger Woods

Tiger hit a spectator on the side of his neck with his tee off starting at the 2010 Memorial Tournament. He did not scream Fore and the cynics would say that by hitting the spectator, Tiger avoided the dangers of the creek in the trees. This is one of the reasons why Pros are not shouting a warning.

Tiger Woods signs a glove for a spectator that he hit with a ball in the third round Memorial Tournament at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio. Photo: Chris Condon / PGA.

3. Six years later, at the same tournament, Phil Mickelson hit the Marshall Joshua Stanfield course in the head.

Stanfield, standing inside the ropes, said that he knew that the bullet was going in his general direction, but did not take any evasive measures. At least his hat helped absorb the impact. The ball deviated from his head and into the rough on the other side of the fairway. "If your head was softer, I'd be in the channel," Phil joked as he approached, putting on a glove and apologizing. "Yeah, it hurts, but it was worth it for me," Stanfield said afterwards.

4. Ernie Els

At the 2014 Open Championship, at the Royal Liverpool, struck a spectator in the face with his tee shot. Ernie was visibly shaken by the incident and struggled afterwards, missing many short putts and playing front nine to seven on the normal – including a triple boguey on that 1st hole. He was still not in a good state during his post-round interviews, clearly affected by the amount of blood involved. The viewer in question needed stitches on the chin but was released from the hospital the same day.

5. Unfortunately for Ernie he was back to the attack when he hit a spectator on the second day of the Masters in 2016. He had recorded a Abyssal 9 on par 4 the 1st hole the day before and no doubt was playing in his mind as he was shooting his approach shot into the crowd on the same hole. The golf fan, Luke Fewel, was hit at the temple but was not seriously injured. Els did a double bogey from where the ball finished … three full shots better than the day before.

6. Philip Reid golf correspondent for the Irish Times, was shot down by Dustin Johnson at Royal Birkdale, last year. Reid stood well away from the ninth green, in front of gorse bushes, when the bullet hit him high on the cheekbone. He – or at least his cheekbone – prevented the ball from entering the gorse. From the television coverage, it appeared that Johnson did not shout Fore. Reid was more indulgent, saying that in the wind and at such a distance, no one could hear a warning cry.

But the Pros are also struck: in 1998, it was the pro golfer Frank Nobilo who got a shot in the head. a golf ball. The wound around his left eye required 30 stitches. Nobilo was on the way to the training track in a buggy when he was hit.

There are many more incidents of this kind – Rory hit someone in 2012 – and fans are informed that they are entering golf risk themselves, he said. There is no excuse for deliberately or carelessly putting them in danger.

A small hard ball can do a lot of damage and just look at the picture of Philip Reid's face to realize that someday there will be a very serious incident.

[ad_2]
Source link