A woman hit in the eye by a golf ball hit by U.S. pro golfer Brooks Koepka has lost her sight in the injured eye, and she plans to file a lawsuit.
Corine Remande, 49, was hit in the face by a drive hit by Koepka at last week’s Ryder Cup outside Paris. The ball fractured Remande’s right eye socket and her eyeball suffered an “explosion,” according to the BBC.
“Doctors told me I had lost the use of that eye,” Remande said.
“It happened so fast, I didn’t feel any pain when I was hit. 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,” she said.
Remande is considering taking legal action against the Ryder Cup organizers. She told the Agence France Presse that there was “no warning shout from the course official when the ball was heading towards the crowd.” Remande also said no one from the Ryder Cup has contacted her since she suffered her injury.
A Ryder Cup spokesperson told the BBC:
It is distressing to hear that someone might suffer long-term consequences from a ball strike.
We have been in communication with the family involved, starting with the immediate on-course treatment and thereafter to provide support, helping with the logistics of repatriation, including providing a transfer for the family from Paris to Lyon. We will continue to offer support for as long as necessary.
Ball strikes are an occasional hazard for spectators but this kind of incident is extremely rare.
We can confirm that “fore” was shouted several times but also appreciate how hard it can be to know when and where every ball is struck if you are in the crowd.
We are hugely sympathetic and will do everything we can to support the spectator, insofar as that is possible under very difficult circumstances.
For his part, Koepka did go over to check on Remande after his ball hit her on the sixth hole on the opening day of the contest between the U.S. and European players. And he apologized.
“You don’t want to hit anybody in the face, especially not a woman, and it’s not a good feeling. I saw her. It looked like it hurt,” Koepka said after his round. “She was bleeding pretty good. It looked like it hit her right in the eye so hopefully there’s no loss of vision. It’s not a fun feeling. I probably do it way more than I should. It seems just about every week we’re hitting somebody.”
But he also said: “It’s hard to control a golf ball, especially for 300 yards, and a lot of times the fans are close to the fairway. You can yell ‘fore’ but it doesn’t matter from 300 yards, you can’t hear it.”