Brooks Koepka says he feels “heartbroken” after his shot at the Ryder Cup hit fan Corine Remande in the face and caused her to lose sight in her right eye.
The golfer, 28, expressed his regret on Twitter on Tuesday. He wrote, “I was deeply hurt and saddened by the tragic accident that occurred when a shot I hit off the 6th tee struck Ms. Remande.”
Remande, 49, and her husband jetted from Egypt to France to attend the golf tournament, the AFP reported. But after Koepka’s shot came barreling toward her, Remande suffered from a fractured eye socket and a damaged eyeball — an injury described to the AFP as an “explosion of the eyeball.”
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Koepka continued, “I spoke to her at the time on the golf course and after now learning her condition is worse than first thought, I have made contact with her/family to offer my sincere and heartfelt sympathy. I am heartbroken by the incident. My thoughts remain with Ms. Remande and her family, and I have asked to be kept informed on her condition.”
“Doctors told me I had lost the use of that eye,” Remande told the AFP, according to CNN. “It happened so fast, I didn’t feel any pain when I was hit. I didn’t feel like the ball had struck my eye and then I felt the blood start to pour.”
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Remande said that she is considering legal action, according to the AFP. “Quite clearly, there is responsibility on the part of the organizers,” she told the AFP. “Officials did not shout any warning as the player’s ball went into the crowd.”
A Ryder Cup spokesperson refuted her allegation to the AFP, saying, “We can confirm that ‘fore’ was shouted several times but also appreciate how hard it can be to know when and where every ball is struck if you are in the crowd.”
At the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Wednesday, Koepka again described his anguish over the incident, according to The Guardian. “I hit the golf ball and it’s upsetting. It really is,” he said. “Just because I hit a golf ball, someone lost the sight in their eye. If you break it down to the heart of it, it’s not a good feeling.
“Yesterday was probably one of the worst days of my life,” he said, adding, “It’s sad and I really am torn up about it.”
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Koepka also made the news this week when reports surfaced that he and fellow golfer Dustin Johnson had a fight at a Ryder Cup after party. At a press conference in Scotland, Koepka denied that the fight took place, ESPN reported.
“This Dustin thing I don’t get,” Koepka said. “There is no fight, no argument, he’s one of my best friends. I love the kid to death and we talked on the phone Monday and yesterday and he told me how he thought.”
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“People like to make a story and run with it,” he added. “As far as the camaraderie [in the U.S. Ryder Cup team] it was fine, it was perfect. The problem is you guys try to find a reason why we lost and the simple reason is we didn’t play good.”
