'So Much Blood': Terrifying Moment Angry Golfer's Club Struck Fan
When professional golfers get angry, the worst that usually happens is a bleeped-out curse word on TV’s seven-second-delay broadcast and a ruined golf club that exacerbates the player’s problem with his performance.
What doesn’t usually happen is a spectator badly injured, but just such a freak accident happened Friday in Portland, Oregon, ESPN reported.
Kevin Stadler, son of Masters champion Craig “The Walrus” Stadler, was playing at the WinCo Foods Portland Open when, on the 15th hole of the second round, he hit a shot bad enough to cause him to slam his club into the ground.
Unfortunately, the club hit his foot, the shaft broke near the base of the club, and the club turned into a projectile, striking a fan in the head and opening a nasty wound that required six stitches to close.
Shaun Micheel, Stadler’s playing partner in a group that also included Jonathan Hodge, made a since-deleted Facebook post about the incident, according to ESPN.
“For anyone wanting to offer some advice to their young ones about golf etiquette, take what I’m about to say to heart,” Micheel wrote. “One of my playing partners played a poor shot with a 7-iron on the par-3 15th hole [Friday] morning. In a fit of anger, he slammed his club against the ground and the inside of his foot, which caused the club to break about 6 inches from the bottom.
“I had my head down but the club head flew behind me and hit a spectator to my right. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen so much blood. We stayed with him for about 15 minutes before the EMTs arrived. …
“The player [Stadler] was absolutely shattered and we did our best to keep his spirits up. This was not done on purpose and we were astounded at the way the club was directed but it just shows you how dangerous it is to throw or break clubs. Each of us in the group learned something today.”
“So much blood,” he said. On the big list of “no good can come of this” phrases, that one’s right up near the top.
Stadler was sufficiently rattled that he missed the cut; the 38-year-old will remain stuck on the Web.com Tour as he tries to earn his way back onto the main PGA Tour circuit.
Rules official Orlando Pope noted Stadler’s emotional distress after the accident.
“It was a very freakish accident,” Pope told ESPN via phone from Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, where the third round was being played Saturday. “Kevin is devastated. He had trouble trying to finish the round. He was quite worried and felt so bad.”
The spectator remains anonymous, as the Web.com Tour and the Portland Open officials declined to release his name.
He is, however, doing just fine, having been sent to the hospital, treated and then released, according to ESPN.
While this incident is unfortunate, there are lessons to be learned from it going forward for players and fans alike.
For fans, the same lesson applies in golf as it does to watching out for screaming foul balls in baseball: Keep your head up and your eyes on the game, which should be common sense considering you’ve paid to be there, but the sheer volume of people on their cellphones at sports events makes it require explicit repetition.
And for players, do a better job controlling your temper; you don’t want to end up like Kevin Stadler, getting your name in the news because your outburst caused a guy to need six stitches.
Whether pro golf makes a rule punishing those who slam clubs remains to be seen, but a two-stroke penalty would do wonders to prevent this from happening again.
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