RC Spectator blinded

[Dasit]

More chances of having a serious accident on the way to the event than actually being hit by a golf ball and having an injury this bad.

Being honest, I think it is pretty damn dumb to stand by a drivable par 4.

Also very dumb to stand in the landing zone for tee shots, so anywhere from 260 to 330.

 

[garyinderry]

Harsh to put much or any blame on this woman. The crowds around each hole are ridiculous at the ryder cup.

Just seriously unlucky to be hit in such a fashion.


This kind of injury was always going to happen at some stage. Maybe some action can now be taken.


The way people flank at ball also worries me greatly. Someone will shank one or even worse a club head will fly off sometime one of these guys try to dig one out of the rough.

Ive been to a number of events. The places people stand is crazy. How a celebrity hasnt killed someone at a pro am by this stage i dont know.

 

[drdel]

Lets hope some sensible, grown-up discussion and agreement takes place between the organisers, Keopka and the poor lady's reps. If insurers start arguing and it get to lawyers fighting its the game that will suffer.

 

[Rlburnside]

Easy fix is to install a speaker system at the 300 yard mark that is activated by a marshall on the tee.

What a brilliant simple idea, get on to the pga.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Alternatively you have a marshall on a radio who quickly gives a fore shout to another standing at the landing zone who can raise the alarm.

As someone who marshalls on the European tour it's often very difficult to track the flight of a ball off a tee - especially if it's moving sideways due to a push or a pull. It's also very difficult if you are in the landing area if you can't pick up the flight. The 18th at Wentworth is a good example where the line off the back tee is over the trees. Spectators on the RHS have no chance to see the ball.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Lets hope some sensible, grown-up discussion and agreement takes place between the organisers, Keopka and the poor lady's reps. If insurers start arguing and it get to lawyers fighting its the game that will suffer.

Agreed - the event organisers and Koepka are liable here and if they have any sense the European Tour will immediately offer to cover all costs and agree a settlement when the lady's needs are assessed in the future. Anything else would cost them so much in credibility it wouldn't be worth it.

I am sure Brooks Keopka feels terrible but I'm not sure he is directly liable - but I bet he's checking his insurance carefully.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

More chances of having a serious accident on the way to the event than actually being hit by a golf ball and having an injury this bad.

Being honest, I think it is pretty damn dumb to stand by a drivable par 4.

Also very dumb to stand in the landing zone for tee shots, so anywhere from 260 to 330.

With the number of spectators around each hole it must have been virtually impossible not to have people around the landing zone distance.

 

[clubchamp98]

We are all assuming that this lady knows anything about golf.
She may have just been invited by a friend and never set foot on a course before.

As for helmets , we have bump caps in work they look just like golf caps but have a hard plastic lining in head.
Wouldn’t stop eye injury though.

There was a thread couple of weeks ago about this?
In the health and safety conscious world we live in ,Kids can’t even play conkers in school!!!
I am amazed the pros can get away with hitting spectators and don’t have public liability insurance while they are AT WORK,,

Someone will be killed soon it’s going to happen , then things will change but it’s a pity they can’t/won’t do something before this happens.

 

[Smiffy]

It's easier to part the Red Sea....

 

[Slab]

It’s good to have a discussion about what practical measures might reduce the risk (because let’s face it we can’t eliminate the risk completely) but I just don’t see hard hats, eye protection, nets or speakers being implemented at regular tour events (because that’s where it would be needed week to week) It can’t just be measures that are used at the RC or a Major because of the knock-on of the liability exposure to every other event that then doesn’t use whatever safety measure is implemented at the biggest events

Let’s say the ET erect nets, speakers or issue eye protection at the next home RC but they don’t do it at the Alfred Dunhill (3 courses to do) or at smaller events like my local the Mauritius Open. If I were unlucky enough to be wounded it would open a very wide door to sue the ET

Instead I think there will be far more numerous and prominent warning (& disclaimer) signage along with ‘Hints & Tips’ for spectators of how to enjoy watching as safely as possible. Basically do what’s reasonable to educate and warn but the choice & responsibility to attend (& expose oneself to the risk) will still be with the spectator

 

[Imurg]

Whilst this incident is very sad, it highlights what I've been saying for years...at the business end of a drive you are unlikely to hear a shout of fore from the tee at a Pro event.
On the tee there will be quiet.
Down the fairway people talk
Lots of people talking normally make a lot of noise.
TV footage shows there was a clear shout from the tee and yet the lady says she heard nothing.
That's not to say that a shout is worthless because it obviously isn't.
You could fire a thermo-nuclear device in the vicinity but if people aren't paying attention you may as well do nothing.
Go to a golf course, as a player or spectator, and you put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation due to the small white projectiles travelling pretty fast - don't believe the hype, they ain't "soft"!
When you cross the road you put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation so, if you don't want to die, you pay attention to what's around you.
It seems, more and more, that responsibility is passing to everyone else and not resting on your shoulders.
Total sympathy form the lady, it's a life-changing incident
But, I suspect, if she'd been more attentive it may not have happened or may not have been as severe.
Impossible to know.

 

[MegaSteve]

I am amazed the pros can get away with hitting spectators and don’t have public liability insurance while they are AT WORK,,

.

Their public liability insurance will be via the venue/organisers similar to how yours is provided whilst you are 'at work'...

 

[SaintHacker]

The other issue is can there actually be any blame placed on the lady herself? If I'm out on the course and I hear a fore in my direction I'll turn away from it and cover the back of my head with my hands, to be hit in the eye suggests she was looking at the direction the ball was coming from. If every possible warning has been given that a ball is potentially incoming then standing there trying to see it maybe isn't the best course of action?

 

[USER1999]

The other issue is can there actually be any blame placed on the lady herself? If I'm out on the course and I hear a fore in my direction I'll turn away from it and cover the back of my head with my hands, to be hit in the eye suggests she was looking at the direction the ball was coming from. If every possible warning has been given that a ball is potentially incoming then standing there trying to see it maybe isn't the best course of action?

But if she didn't here fore, she was just looking at the golf, kind of what she was there for? Hard to spectate when looking away from the action.

 

[USER1999]

Here? Hear, for all the pedants!

 

[SaintHacker]

But if she didn't here fore, she was just looking at the golf, kind of what she was there for? Hard to spectate when looking away from the action.

You would assume she was watching the shot, and therefore even if she didn't hear the shout she would have seen the arm waving and the marshall with the flag? I don't know, I'm just playing devils advocate

 

[Dasit]

It is a 300 yard drive, with elevation changes, thousands of people in the way.


This kind of thing is a freak accident, there were hundreds of thousands of people at the event, and from what we know one person got a serious injury.

If these hundreds of thousands of people had been going about their normal weekend activities, 1 or more people would probably have got a serious injury from something else, like a car crash etc

 

[GregKael]

Their public liability insurance will be via the venue/organisers similar to how yours is provided whilst you are 'at work'...

Don't you have to supply your own public liability insurance if you are self-employed, even when working on a site where the owning business has public liability insurance?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Koepka was employed by the US PGA or equivalent this week. Presumably they would cover that. It will be a work out between them and, more likely, the tournament organisers.

 

[MegaSteve]

Don't you have to supply your own public liability insurance if you are self-employed, even when working on a site where the owning business has public liability insurance?

When I've worked self-employed at others premises I've always assumed I've been covered under their public liability cover...
Maybe I've made the wrong assumption... Or, the advice I took was incorrect...