Golfer hospitalized after lightning strike

TAMARA SHEPHARD

June 9, 2008

A golfer got luckier than a hole-in-one this afternoon after lightning struck the ground near him shortly after 4 p.m. on the links at Royal Woodbine Golf Club.

Toronto paramedics transported the man, conscious and breathing, to Etobicoke General Hospital late this afternoon, Toronto EMS officials said.

“Lightning struck the ground beside him. It was not a direct hit,” Robert Schmidt, general manager of the club said from his home late Monday afternoon. “He walked on his own power to a Toronto Fire rescue SUV that took him to an ambulance.”

The man, believed to be in his 40s, experienced tightness in his chest, but was conscious and coherent immediately after the lightning strike, Schmidt said.

Royal Woodbine notifies golfers of imminent lightning events via a messaging system through GPS units attached to the golf carts, Schmidt said.

However, no lightning alert had been issued this afternoon, he said.

“At the time of the incident, there was no imminent lightning in the area. It was just overcast,” Schmidt said. “It was a very freak bolt of lightning.”

Schmidt said in his 10 years with the club no golfer has been struck by lightning.

“This has been the closest.”