Bryson DeChambeau had a bit of an awkward incident in the first round of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club when he struck a fellow competitor with one of his shots.
DeChambeau was playing on the 17th hole of East Course of the upstate New York club when he hit an errant second shot that wound up hitting fellow competitor and PGA of America professional Kenny Pigman, who was standing on the tee on the par-4 18th.
PGA professional Kenny Pigman was just hit on the 18th tee by an errant tee shot.
It was hit by Bryson DeChambeau pic.twitter.com/M7DSzXKZdZ
— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) May 18, 2023
Pigman can be seen on the video footage from ESPN clearly ducking into position having heard some kind of warning shout that the drive might be coming his way. The ball appears to hit Pigman in the neck area, and he doesn't look particularly harmed by the incident. He then looks back to see who hit the shot, and it turned out to be the 2020 US Open champion.
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Fortunately, the iron shot struck wasn't as speedy as a shot struck with a driver, meaning the collision with Pigman wasn't as nasty. DeChambeau did reportedly come over and apologize to Pigman and make sure he was OK.
This kind of incident is somewhat rare in golf because so many PGA Tour venues have holes that are spaced out significantly and make this kind of situation less likely. However, on classic courses and clubs like this Donald Ross design, the holes are closer together and do create the possibility of these situations -- even for the best players in the world.