A female volunteer is the latest casualty at a major golf event after breaking her leg in two places while looking for a lost ball on day one of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters in Spain.
The 64-year old marshal slipped badly on wet grass breaking her fibula and tibia in right leg in searching for an errant dive off the 11th tee by Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal.
Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal
Play on the hole was delayed for close to 30-minutes and with four groups banking-up on the tee as medical crews treated the woman’s injuries before an ambulance arrived at the clubhouse to convey her to a local hospital.
The woman believed to be named Rosa Pinedo is the mother to Javier Pinedo a very renowned TV reporter since 1992 with Canal Plus.
Larrazabal, who looked visibly shaken by the incident on just the second hole of his round, later tweeted to Pinedo saying: “I’m sorry… give your mother a big kiss… Mia’s fault for throwing it to Fr. Bush… a big hug and early recovery..”
Larzabal eventually walked off the par-5 11th posting a quadruple-bogey ‘9’ on route to a round of a seven-over par 78.
At the recent Ryder Cup a female spectator ultimately lost the sight in her right eye after being struck by a wild drive off the tee by American Brooks Koepka.
Then last fortnight, winning European Ryder Cup star Tyrrell Hatton struck a woman in the middle of her forehead after a tee shot at Kingsbarns Links and on day one of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
And while Koepka’s tee shot was clearly errant, organisers of the Dunhill Links admitted they got the 15th hole pin placement wrong that forced competitors to hit their tee shots over the heads of spectators.
