TULSA, Okla. — Aaron Wise was hit in the head by Cameron Smith‘s errant tee shot during the second round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club on Friday.
Wise was leaning over and identifying a ball in the fairway of the seventh hole when Smith’s tee shot hit him in the head. Smith, who was teeing off on the adjacent second hole, sliced his shot way right.
“I was walking down seven, surprised my ball was in the fairway, and then next thing you know, I mean there’s a little bit of ringing in my head,” Wise said. “I was down on the fairway. But you know, that happened for maybe 20 seconds, and I was pretty normal after that.”
Wise, who is 91st in the Official World Golf Ranking, immediately asked for water, according to playing partner Joel Dahmen. Wise was able to get up and down for par on No. 7, his 16th hole of the round, and again on the par-3 eighth. He made bogey on No. 9.
“I had a great up and down on seven and eight,” Wise said. “You know, obviously, there’s a lot of adrenaline in the body after something like that happens. I was just trying to calm myself down and get back to being somewhat normal for the last few holes.”
Wise finished 2-over 72 in the round. He is 1-over after 36 holes and was comfortably in front of the cut line.
Wise was holding an ice pack to his head in the scoring tent. He was taken to player services, where he lay down for about 20 minutes, and had a red scuff mark on his hat from Smith’s ball mark.
“Thankfully, he’s fine,” Dahmen said. “It was a glancing blow, but the ball took off another 40 or 50 yards down the fairway. It ended up in the rough. You could hear it. All the spectators heard it. It was loud.”
Smith, the No. 4 player in the world, yelled “fore” on the tee box.
“It was so far away, and there’s so many people and the wind is blowing,” Dahmen said. “You’re not going to be able to hear it if anyone says fore. I don’t fault Cam for that at all. One hundred people could have yelled fore, and you wouldn’t hear it.”