Players at the 2023 Masters golf tournament would have been excused if, instead of yelling “Fore!” prior to teeing off, they let loose with cries of “Timber!” instead.
New video shows three pine trees coming down near the 17th hole of the Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, barely missing a handful of people who had been in the area.
One witness told Yahoo Sports that injuries were avoided only “miraculously.”
🚨#BREAKING: A large tree almost crushed a crowd of people during the master golf tournament
📌#Augusta | #Georgia⁰
Watch terrifying video when giant Tree falls almost crushing on a crowd of people just off the 17th green during at the master golf tournament in Augusta… pic.twitter.com/NddAZPPObv— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 7, 2023
🚨#UPDATE: More shocking video from a different angle shows the tree almost crushing a crowd of people at the masters tournament in Augusta Georgia this took place at the 17th hole pic.twitter.com/i6iy9YSEns
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 7, 2023
Spectators were warned about the coming fall when pine cones began dropping off the tree, one witness told The Augusta Chronicle.
“It fell on my chair,” Sylvia Martin told the outlet. “We were sitting under the umbrella because of the pine cones. We were kinda laughing and joking it was raining pine cones and pine needles.
Is God’s mercy the only explanation for no one being hurt?
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“All of a sudden, the people behind us were paying attention,” Martin said.”We heard cracking. Everyone started running, so we were trying to get over the rope (into the fairway). We had nowhere to go because people were behind us.”
According to The Chronicle, bystander Deshey Thomas of North Carolina gets the credit for warning people to get out of the way.
“Pinecones were hitting us in the back, we turned around and looked up and heard a huge cracking noise and the tree basically crushed 10 chairs that were sitting there,” Thomas said. “Luckily we got everyone out of there. We were blessed.”
Augusta National later confirmed on social media that no injuries occurred in the incident, which led to a weather delay for the remainder of Good Friday.
#themasters pic.twitter.com/QI16LEw3hQ
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2023
“Augusta National Gulf Club can confirm that no injuries were reported from three trees that were blown over to the left of the No. 17 tee due to wind,” The Masters wrote in a “tournament update” posted to Twitter early Friday evening. “The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters Tournament will always be the top priority of the Club, which will continue to monitor weather today and through the Tournament.
“The Second Round has been officially suspended for the rest of the day. Play will resume Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. EDT. Ticket gates will open at 7:00 a.m. EDT as scheduled.”
Spaniard John Rahm won the tournament on Sunday.
