A spectator at the Ryder Cup says she has lost the sight in her eye after she was hit in the face by a ball.
“It happened so fast, I didn’t feel any pain when I was hit,” Corine Remande, 49, told AFP. “I didn’t feel like the ball had struck my eye and then I felt the blood start to pour. The scan on Friday confirmed a fracture of the right eye socket and an explosion of the eyeball.”
The incident occurred on the first day of competition at the par-4 sixth hole at Le Golf National near Paris. Remande went to the hospital for treatment, and Brooks Koepka, 28, a promising player on the PGA Tour who has already won three majors, apologised and signed a glove for the injured spectator.
“You don’t want to hit anybody in the face, especially not a woman, and it’s not a good feeling,” Koepka said.
Doctors initially said the injury was not serious. After winning the morning four-balls on Friday with partner Tony Finau, Koepka said” “I felt terrible. I just wanted to get out of there, so I’m glad Tony was able to chip in and leave. At first I didn’t know, but someone shouted, ‘You hit someone,’ and I turned around and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, I did it again.’”
Koepka has had his share of accidentally hitting fans with errant shots.
“It’s not a fun feeling, and I probably do it way more than I should,” he said. “It seems just about every week we’re hitting somebody and, you know, it’s unfortunate because you’re never trying to. It’s hard to control a golf ball and especially for 300 yards. A lot of times, the fans are very close.”
Remande may pursue legal action to help cover medical costs, she told AFP.
She also claims there was “no warning shout from the course official when the ball was heading towards the crowd”, according to the BBC.