The caddie for an newbie within the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am collapsed on the eleventh fairway, and CPR was carried out on him till an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital.
In a match identified for its straightforward vibe with celebrities and surroundings, the ultimate three hours at Pebble Beach took on a somber tone, notably these on and across the eleventh gap when the caddie fell over on Friday.
The PGA Tour didn’t launch his identify. Early experiences have been the caddie’s situation was enhancing. He was working for Pebble Beach businessman Geoff Couch, who didn’t return to complete the spherical.
“I turn around and he’s on the ground and I ran over to him and turned him over,” mentioned nation singer Lukas Nelson, the opposite newbie within the group.
“And he didn’t have a lot of color in him. Luckily, there was a police officer on the sideline. He knew CPR so he came in and effectively saved his life.” Gary Young, the PGA Tour’s chief referee, mentioned a spectator started the CPR and an officer from Cal Fire took over from there.
PGA Tour gamers Beau Hossler and Max McGreevy, after session with PGA Tour officers, selected to not converse to reporters out of respect to the caddie’s household.
“It was especially jarring, the weirdest thing that can happen on a golf course,” Nelson mentioned.
“The good news is he’s at the moment doing better. From my perspective, it seemed like we lost him. And he’s still with us, so that’s important.” After consulting with a PGA Tour guidelines official, Hossler and McGreevy marked their golf balls on the eleventh gap and returned to the clubhouse. They have been capable of heat up and returned to the eleventh gap after each group had come by way of to complete the spherical.
Harry Higgs was enjoying two teams behind and noticed all of it unfold. It introduced again recollections of Buffalo Bills security Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest throughout a Monday Night Football recreation in opposition to Cincinnati and needed to be resuscitated on the sphere.
“It had some shades of that,” Higgs mentioned. “I was standing on the tee. They looked like they were 250 yards away, maybe even less, and they were hammering away CPR on the gentleman. It was weird.” The teams behind, which included retired All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald, performed by way of because the tour discovered what the gamers wished to do.
“We teed off on 11 and once I got up there and saw the group that the caddie was in, they were off to the side and they were obviously very emotional, hugging each other,” Higgs mentioned.
“I called a rules official over and just wanted to like, Is this OK? I don’t want to be rude and keep going.’ It’s like golf doesn’t matter at all now, right?” Nelson wasn’t positive he wished to return, a sense shared by others, aside from getting good experiences on the caddie’s improved situation.
“I think everybody on property knew what had happened and everybody was flat,” Higgs mentioned.
“There was no energy, no juice on any of the holes coming in. … Fortunately, we got some good news and kept going. I hope there’s more good news in the coming hours and days. Just very difficult and kind of a first — hopefully, a last.” Two years, caddie Alberto Olguin collapsed on the ninth tee throughout a PGA Tour Latinoamerica occasion and died an hour later at a hosptial in Mexico.
In 2016, the primary spherical of a Ladies European Tour occasion in Dubai was suspended when caddie Max Zechmann collapsed on the thirteenth fairway and died at a close-by hospital.
At the 2014 Madeira Island Open on the European Tour, caddie Ian MacGregor collapsed and died on the ninth gap whereas working for Alastair Forsyth. The match continued when Forsyth mentioned that’s what his caddie would have wished. One participant, Peter Lawrie, withdrew out of respect.