#Lightning strike at golf tournament pro#
#Lightning strike at golf tournament professional#

#Lightning strike at golf tournament professional#

Marshals and scorers did their best Thursday to spread the word to spectators-five of whom were injured by the bolt-but the institution of professional golf did not convey the gravity of the situation. I felt real warm when it got me, and a lot of pain when I regained consciousness.'' Had four burns on my back and needed two back operations. Like two ball-peen hammers in my ear, it went from my feet through my shoulder, I`m lifted off the ground, then I`m down, shaking like a leaf. ''My heart stopped, and the doctor told me if it wasn`t in such good shape, I`d have been gone. ''Heard never really made it back, and neither did Nichols,'' Trevino recalled. Arnold Palmer, about to swing on the 14th fairway, lost his club but was not injured. Fellow competitors Jerry Heard and Bobby Nichols also were hit. He was knocked out, and hospitalized for two days, one in intensive care. ''I know.''ĭuring the 1975 Western Open at Butler National in Oak Brook, Trevino was seared by lightning near Teal Lake beside the 13th hole. ''And people will always figure, `It won`t hit me,` '' Trevino said. There might have been 50,000 on the grounds Thursday.

#Lightning strike at golf tournament pro#

Legendary Jack Nicklaus, a pro since 1962, said he has never seen such numbers. Perhaps it is starved, as many as 40,000 arrived for practice rounds earlier in the week.

The Twin Cities region isn`t on the regular professional golf circuit the last event in the area was the 1983 Senior Open. Thousands ran for refreshment stands and souvenir tents, yet thousands didn`t. But Thursday, despite imminent danger, crowds here didn`t respond. On the daily pairing sheets at Hazeltine, handed out free of charge, there is a section cautioning spectators on what to avoid during inclement weather. Lightning hits one of them, you got mass execution. `It`s only a storm.` Well, those are steel bleachers. Today, when we were driving in during the rain, thousands of people were still sitting in bleachers waiting for us to keep playing. At Preston Trail in Dallas, late 1970s, lightning hit a tree, a limb fell and took a fan`s head off.

''What can you do? It`s amazing this doesn`t happen more often with all the people who come out to see us play. ''I`m not blaming the people running this tournament,'' Trevino went on.