By CNN
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As a golf fan watching at a tournament, you have the privilege of being up close to all the action.
Lining the course, spectators can almost reach out and touch their favorite players as they go about their business of driving, chipping and putting.
That proximity also means that they are offered very little protection from potentially wayward shots – as one onlooker at The Players Championship on Saturday almost found out to their cost as they watched US golfer Max Homa at TPC Sawgrass.
Homa had been enjoying a promising start to the tournament and was one-under par after the 13th hole in his third round and in touching distance of the leaders.
Then things turned sour on the 14th hole for the 33-year-old American golfer.
First, his drive found the water down the left before his next shot was shanked into the trees.
With the 33-year-old’s progress towards the hole impeded by foliage, Homa was forced to attempt a relief shot back onto the fairway.
When any player strays into the rough, fans tend to congregate and get an even closer look at a golfer’s ball-striking abilities.
Homa warned those fans to take a step back so they would be out of harms way of the flight of his ball. However, when he did eventually attempt his third shot, Homa’s ball came within inches of hitting a fan, who was filming the golfer.
In a video posted on TikTok taken from in front of Homa with the caption “who said golf was boring,” the ball is seen flying towards the camera at extreme speed, coming dangerously close to whoever is filming before a loud crack can be heard.
In a separate video taken from behind Homa, the ball is shown whizzing over a spectator’s head before smashing against a tree just behind them.
The close call seemed to delight watching fans, with some breaking out into laughter when they realized nobody had been hit.
Homa eventually struggled to a quadruple-bogey nine on the par-four 14th hole, ruling him out of contention for the tournament.
After his third round on Saturday, Homa explained that he had asked fans to move back, adding that the whole incident was “scary.”
“I was trying to go much higher than that. Yesterday I should have probably asked them to move more but I didn’t think I was gonna knife it,” he told reporters.
“But typically you ask them to move and it’s like two steps back – [they’re] kind of throwing caution to the wind at times with their own safety,” added Homa. “But I did not hit anybody … it was unfortunately freaky but I gave some people a good story. I heard a lot of people laughing so I got that out of it.”
Homa also provided an update on social media afterwards.
“FYI I did not hit anyone in the head on 14 yesterday. It smoked a tree,” Homa wrote on X – formerly known as Twitter. “Really thankful it missed the guy. That would have been devastating. Cool video tho if I do say so myself.”
It might not fit into typical golfing attire but maybe fans should pack hard hats when they attend live events.
