Lightning strikes during the third round of the Tour Championship have left multiple spectators injured.
Two lightning strikes happened at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta at 4:45pm local time, one hitting a maintenance area and another striking a fan zone near the 16th tee. Debris from that strike injured at least four people.
NBC Sports television cameras captured the moment lightning hit the tree.
NBC just showed a lightning strike out at the #TOURChampionship at East Lake that injured possibly 4. This is a slow motion shot of their coverage. Wow! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/0Z1ARb6a8q
— Craig Lucie (@CraigLucie) August 24, 2019
Ambulance sirens rang out across the property as medical personnel raced to the scene. According to the PGA Tour, “EMT tended to those fans and two others immediately and transported them from the property via ambulance for further medical attention.”
The latest report from tournament officials stated the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“We put on the scoreboard the weather was approaching and tell fans to take shelter, but often times they don’t,” said the PGA Tour’s Mark Russell, head of rules and competition. “We opened up hospitality areas that are grounded, a lot of other places like that. You’ve got a lot of people, and you have to do that quickly, and sometimes people don’t take shelter.”
Tyler Dennis, senior vice president and chief of operations, said the tour has “several layers of safety” for these situations.
“We have the plan each week to evacuate everybody inside the ropes, and the tournament also has a comprehensive plan to evacuate everyone outside of the ropes, meaning spectators and other constituents,” Dennis said.
Russell said there were no concerns in moving up the tee-times – it was sunny and temperatures in the high 20s in the morning – stating they have staff officials, technology, and equipment specifically dedicated to monitoring weather and safety.
Players were taken off the course at 4:17pm after the tournament was suspended for an approaching storm. The tournament has been called off for the day; play will resume on Sunday at 8am (10 o’clock tonight, Australian time).
