Limb falls, injures three
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. – A nearly 40-foot tree limb fell next to the fourth green at the PGA Championship on Friday, injuring a spectator and two television employees.
The limb sheered off a red oak next to the green and a television tower at Baltusrol Golf Club and fell approximately 60 feet.
A spectator and two members of the Turner/CBS Sports production team were injured, the PGA of America said in a statement.
Frank Choy, a freelance audio technician working for Turner Sports, broke his left leg and was taken to a hospital. Bob Welsch, who was operating the jib camera under the tree, sustained abrasions to his left forearm and was treated at the site and released. A 60-year-old spectator, who asked not to be identified, was treated at the golf club’s medical office for minor bruises on his left arm and released.
The limb fell moments after Tiger Woods played his approach shot on the par-3 hole.
The crowd was reacting to Woods’ shot, which spun back toward the pin, and a roar went up as the branch began tearing away from the tree.
Play resumed after a delay of less than 10 minutes.
The tree was inspected and trimmed before the start of the tournament and construction of the greenside TV tower, tournament director Andy Bush said.
The PGA said the tree would be removed before today’s third round as a precaution.
Ames a busy man
Steve Ames is having tough time at the PGA Championship.
In addition to handling the difficult Baltusrol layout, Ames has been caring for his two sons while his wife recovers from lung cancer surgery.
But Ames is willing to do whatever it takes to help speed his wife’s recovery.
Jodi Ames was diagnosed with cancer three months ago and underwent surgery the Monday after the British Open. Doctors removed three-quarters of her left lung and her lymph nodes.
She’s on the mend now in Canada, and her husband is doing the best he can to help.
“It’s either continue to play golf and bring the kids with me, or I can go home and take the kids on vacation. Just to give her an opportunity to recoup, without the kids around,” Ames said after a second-round 72 that left him 1 under par at Baltusrol.
Ames said his wife needs plenty of quiet time to sleep and recover.
“She sleeps a lot some days, 12-13 hours at a time, which is what she needs to do,” he said. “She’s getting stronger by the day. I can hear it in her voice, too.”
Meanwhile, he’s on the road with his sons and a nanny, trying to make the best of the situation.
Ames kept his wife’s condition private until recently, telling only a few PGA Tour friends. But he carried the secret with him to the golf course and had trouble concentrating.
“It was tough,” he said. “I did worry about the situation. Is she going to make the surgery? Is the cancer spreading? Is it more than they expected?
“And it was, ‘Oh, boy, I have two young boys.’ “
Ames said it’s been difficult having his sons on the road.
“It’s hard, obviously, having two kids running up the wall,” he said.
He admitted concentration on the golf course comes a bit easier now that his wife is recovering.
“Today, my mind wandered a bit, but I was able to catch it a bit,” he said. “In the past, it was very difficult to catch it.”
Mind games
Lee Westwood took a drastic step to try to improve his play in the final rounds of tournaments. He’s seeing a psychologist.
“I just felt like I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I could do,” Westwood said Friday after a second-round 2-under 68 that moved him to 4-under. “My last round scoring average has been very poor this year, and I didn’t feel like I was playing any worse in the last round, just thinking a bit worse.”
The stats don’t lie. Westwood’s performance has dropped off in the final round of tournaments this year. Entering the PGA, his scoring average before the cut was 70.84. In the third round, it’s 74.50, and in the final round it increases to 75.71.
Westwood is convinced his problems aren’t mechanical.
“Technically, there was nothing wrong before that was causing me to shoot bad rounds in the last round.”
Staying the weekend
Local club pro Darrell Kestner will play in the final rounds of a major for the first time after snapping a string of 18 missed cuts in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
Kestner, the head pro at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhassett, N.Y., had rounds of 72-70 for a 2-over total.
“Finally got over the hump,” Kestner said. “After eight U.S. Opens and 10 PGAs, and at the age of 52. You would think it would have happened at an earlier age and on a different golf course.”