We’re still not clear on what exactly happened here yesterday. All we know is that Rory McIlroy tried to punch out of some desert junk, hit someone or something, and a man ended up with large chunks of cholla cactus in his back.
Rory McIlroy shot, Arizona cholla cactus attack camera man at Accenture Match Play
It’s dangerous out there in the golf gallery.
The last time the PGA Tour was in Arizona, a Scottsdale-area cactus plunged its needles into Kevin Stadler’s golf ball, holding it in mid-air and causing the then Phoenix Open leader to abandon the ball. This one looked much more painful.
During his first round match against Boo Weekley, McIlroy went wild and off the green stuff into the desert landscape surrounding The Golf Club at Dove Mountain. With a bush interfering with his backswing and his ball up against a rock, there was really no predicting the path of the shot. Judging from the sound and Rory’s reaction shortly after the ball was struck, the shot promptly hit a still camera man out shooting photos of the match. It appears that same camera man was bounced into a cholla cactus when the ball came flying through. Large parts of the cholla then stuck to his back, forcing nearby fans to slowly pick them out with car keys and other assorted tools. The man refused on-site paramedic assistance (via PGATour):
As we saw last week when this fan at Riviera dodged a bouncing drive off the cart path, when you’re not the one hitting the shot, you got to keep your head on a swivel out there on the PGA Tour. The Riviera fan escaped without harm, but he also didn’t have to deal with the ball and attacking cactus trees.
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