News
Arkansas student impaled by golf club
Whatever snooty image the outside world conjures up for the game of golf, the sport tends to be pretty laid back. Self-deprecation, laughter and a slew of adult beverages are all usually a vital part of the experience.
But as has been recently noted, the amount of alcohol imbibed on the course can be dangerous, for physical and legal reasons.
And never forget that your equipment can serve as a weapon.
That is the case in Jonesboro, Ark., where an 18-year-old college student was impaled in the neck with a broken golf shaft last Tuesday.
Natalie Eaton, a freshman at Arkansas State University, was hanging out at a fraternity cookout when a most unlikely and unfortunate event occurred. One male student tossed a football to another male student, who decided to swing his golf club at the object like it was a baseball. On impact the shaft broke in two, and the lower part flew 30 feet into Eaton’s neck.
The 18-year-old was initially sent to a local hospital before being flown, via helicopter, to a hospital in Memphis, Tenn. She was listed in critical condition as late as Thursday with fears that she was facing paralysis.
Thankfully, matters turned for the better the next day. On Friday, Arkansasmatters.com posted that Eaton was awake and responsive and could feel both sides of her body. She was, however, extremely confused and did not remember the incident.
Eaton’s friend, Makaleigh Riddle, called the recovery a miracle, considering the doctors’ previous bleak prognostications on the paralysis front.
For now, it seems like a disaster has been avoided. The odds that a broken club could fly into a target of possibly paralysis or death (the spinal cord) are astronomical. A second student at the event, after all, was hit, but not seriously injured like Eaton.
Still, it pays to be careful. Golf clubs used improperly, broken or intact, can prove quite hazardous. Even a simple practice swing can lead to massive damage if you aren’t paying attention to your surroundings. The golf ball is no less a scourge either.
It’s all good to have fun, but remember the agony Eaton’s family must have felt while their faced immobilization or death before you do something blatantly irresponsible with golf equipment or on the golf course.
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GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”
“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”
Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.
According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”
CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.
“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.
Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history
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Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.
It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.
PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place
The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.
This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.
With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.
360° and in!
A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024
DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four
It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.
It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.
.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024
PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella
Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.
64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.
.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024
PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win
Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.
The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.
Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063
8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024
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jedidiah
Aug 29, 2014 at 9:14 am
i would
Tin Whistle
Aug 27, 2014 at 11:10 pm
What kind of club?
Is it on 2nd Swing yet?
Dave C.
Aug 27, 2014 at 12:46 pm
I used to play golf 30 years ago with a real jerk who would curse and throw clubs all the time. One day, he showed up with a cheap, new driver he had bought for $7. He hit a horrible tee shot, and immediately threw the club. The shaft shattered like it had been made of glass. No one was hurt, but I NEVER played golf with him again.
He had the cheek to send his wife back to the store for a refund, due to the club being “defective”. She got his money back.
Justin
Sep 1, 2014 at 7:54 pm
Knew a guy that did that. Didn’t matter, unless it was a perfect shot (which, for being a 100+ shooter, rarer than rare), the guy got pi$$ed and threw whatever was in hand. It got old, fast…
Desmond
Aug 27, 2014 at 1:36 am
Don’t do stupid things … think of the consequences beforehand
MattSihv
Aug 27, 2014 at 12:20 am
My wife went to A-State and this is her friend’s sister-in-law. She was just a kid at a college party. The story doesn’t mention that the kid who swung the club also saved her life. He thought quickly and was able to keep pressure on the wound..
Justin
Sep 1, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Still, it shouldn’t have gotten to that point.
bradford
Aug 26, 2014 at 1:44 pm
This article should be in the WITB section.
dot dot
Aug 26, 2014 at 12:02 pm
Now the guy has to complete the party with only 13 clubs. Tough break.
Gary Lewis
Aug 26, 2014 at 12:00 pm
Good to know. I think this kind of incident with golf clubs has resulted in at least a fatal incident or more. I heard a story of one golfer throwing a club after a bad shot, club hit a ball washer, broke and part of the shaft came back and hit the guy in the neck and killed him. I am not totally positive it is a true story but could happen. Safety always needs to be a priority everywhere and golf clubs are no exception.
Justin
Sep 1, 2014 at 8:00 pm
A cousin of my wife was killed by a golf club. He was swinging it, decided to hit a clothesline. The head and some of the shaft snapped off… the force of the swing and the way it broke caused the broken end to “wrap around” the post, leading to the kid to be impaled in the throat. You just never know, and responsibility isn’t always on the front of everyone’s mind…
Taylor Zalewski
Aug 26, 2014 at 10:58 am
What in the world does this article have to do with golf. I was in a fraternity and a lot of stupid stuff went down on a regular basis.
Trevor
Aug 26, 2014 at 10:56 am
Absolutely stupid article
Justin
Sep 1, 2014 at 8:01 pm
I’m sorry you’re not intelligent enough to realize the point.
Mike Honcho
Aug 26, 2014 at 10:44 am
Happened in Arkansas, ’nuff said.
rkristopher
Aug 26, 2014 at 10:57 am
Dumb comment.
Idiots are everywhere.
Joe Golfer
Aug 28, 2014 at 1:41 am
Totally agree with you, rkristopher.
It is amazing how many callous remarks about this tragedy have shown up in this forum post.
One person comments that the guy who swung the club will have to finish with 13 clubs now.
Another asks if the club is on 2nd Swing yet.
It’s sad that adults write such things.
I could understand if this was some YouTube music video site, as those are loaded with immature comments from youthful schoolkid commenters who are just acerbic or mean-spirited.
It’s nice to see someone call out those who post those extremely childish remarks.
There is NOTHING funny about a young girl almost being paralyzed in a tragic accident.
Joe Golfnerd
Aug 28, 2014 at 8:13 pm
well thank you mr. white knight; snore.
Xreb
Aug 31, 2014 at 12:24 pm
Compassion is what is lacking in people these days as all the callous posts above aptly demonstrate. Would any of any say these things if it were your wife or sister ?
MattSihv
Aug 27, 2014 at 12:26 am
Mikey, I find it pathetic that you would use an article about a tragedy to announce your idiocy to the internet. I live in Ar-Kansas now, and I’d be happy to compare my life to yours, ’nuff said.
leftright
Aug 29, 2014 at 8:18 am
I wish the country understood the Clinton’s are from Arkansas and then, maybe, Hillary would not be in the POTUS game. Half the people in America couldn’t tell where Arkansas is on a map. Progressives are destroying the country, the world and are responsible for much of golf’s demise over the past few years. I hope that young lady recovers and get’s back to normal.
Justin
Sep 1, 2014 at 8:05 pm
GTFOH with that BS. Really? This article is about a girl who was nearly paralyzed- or worse- and you bring this $hit here? Are you that stupid and uncaring?