Golfer cheats death by 10 feet
Siew Peng Lee • Published 27 May 2011 09:00
15 Comments
A DUNFERMLINE golfer cheated death by just 10 FEET after a tree fell on him in the gale-force winds that wreaked havoc across West Fife on Monday.
Ambulance crew said postie Gordon Sutherland (52), of Macbeth Road, was "lucky" to have had a narrow escape when the tree fell and hit him in the back at around 3.30pm at Pitreavie Golf Club.
An ambulance rushed to the club at Queensferry Road but a second one with a spinal board had to be called to take him to Queen Margaret Hospital, where he was treated overnight.
Mr Sutherland suffered injuries to his back and grazes to his head and was discharged on Tuesday.
He told the Press, "I was playing a tie against Paddy Mallen in a club tournament - he was going away on holiday and we decided to play it on the Monday as there were no other dates available.
"It was never going to work - it was too windy and there was too much debris on the green.
"We were on the third green and he just said, 'Forget it, enough is enough', stuck the flag in the hole when literally seconds later, bang! The tree came down.
"It was bad timing. A minute earlier and we'd have been on the other side of the tree heading back to the clubhouse."
Mr Sutherland felt "very lucky" not to have been killed, adding, "The tree was some size - it had a big trunk and covered about half the green.
"The medics said another 10 feet and that'd have been me away. If I had been more to my left, I'd have been in the centre of it."
He was pulled out from under the debris by Mr Mallen and initially feared his back was broken.
Mr Sutherland recalled, "It was really frightening - I felt really sore and feared the worst.
"But then I could feel my feet and move my toes - otherwise it'd have been panic stations."
Although he initially had difficulty breathing because of the pain and problems sitting up, he is now on the road to recovery.
He said, "I'm very lucky I have no bones broken, I'm just badly bruised along the back of my spine. It'll be OK once the pain goes away."
His wife, Yvonne, who was at work when told of her husband's accident, joked, "It was quite a shock when I got the call.
"I've just laughed at him - what an idiot playing in weather like this!"
A total of five roads in West Fife were closed by police due to broken branches, foliage and fallen trees, caused by gusts of up to 70mph.
These included the A907 Dunfermline to Alloa (west of Bogside) and the C38 Inzievar Road in Oakley.
The Coal Road in Dunfermline, which links Pittencrieff Street with Milton Green, was closed just before 5pm, with one driver warning that avoiding debris was "like being on a fairground ride".
Also closed were the D10 Craigluscar to B913 Drumtuthill Road near Wellwood and the D16 Balgownie Road - A907 to A994.
A tree in Backmarch Crescent in Rosyth came crashing down, narrowly missing a car when it fell into a garden.
A 100ft tree also fell over in the park next to South Acres in Cairneyhill and resident Mike Higgins said, "Luckily nobody was walking on the footpath at the time but a few dog walkers had a lucky escape."
A tree was uprooted in Rosyth at Queensferry Road near Tesco, blocking a path, while another fell onto the main road through Pitreavie Business Park near Dunfermline fire station forcing vehicles to swerve to avoid it.
Falling masonry and roughcasting from buildings at 16-18 Guildhall Street also resulted in the road being closed.
Fife Council's building standards and safety team were unable to get a cherry picker up on Monday due to the high winds but made the properties and road safe on Tuesday.
Inspector David Russell, of Fife police's force contact centre, said, "The majority of calls concerned fallen trees blocking roads where fortunately there were no reports of serious or life-threatening injuries.
"This generated in the region of 69 weather-related recorded incidents.
"Police officers worked in tandem with Fife Fire and Rescue Service where appropriate whilst Fife Council worked tirelessly throughout the day and into the night returning the road network to normal and attending to areas where there was a potential threat due to partially fallen trees and the like.
"The public were vigilant where, at the height of the storm the contact centre experienced an increase of call volumes of over 500 to 1758 when compared to the same period last week where the force received 1252 calls."
The strong winds forced the closure of the Forth Road Bridge to all traffic and caused traffic disruptions.
Bridge operators closed the bridge just after 4pm "due to exceptionally strong winds", reopening only to cars just after 8pm, with traffic redirected to the Kincardine and Clackmannanshire bridges.
Press readers who were on the bridge prior to its closure told of their hairy experiences.
'Shah Hoorsur' commented on our website, "Heading south on the bridge, I was two cars behind an articulated HGV in the outside lane.
"Several times, I thought that his load of wooden trusses was going to either come off or even worse, cause the truck to tip over, the wind was so bad.
"One can only imagine the carnage and delays this would cause to other road users."
Fife commuters were also left stranded on the other side of the Forth as train and bus services were severely disrupted.
'Decking Man' said on our website, "I was one of the unfortunate passengers standing on a Stagecoach 55 bus from Edinburgh bus station to Ferrytoll via Kincardine bridge.
"It's not pleasant being packed into a fully laden bus, standing for nearly three hours with no leg movement, and pathetic air conditioning was ridiculous."
Showers are forecast from Thursday until Saturday but for Sunday the Met Office has warned that "winds will be strong at times across Scotland in particular, with a risk of gales in exposure".
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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jan the man
Unregistered User
May 27, 12:08
Report comment -
Ben Dover
Unregistered User
May 27, 13:03
Report commentWhat a muppet..... playing golf in that weather!!!
Recommend?
Yes 17
No 0
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Paddy O Doors
Unregistered User
May 27, 13:08
Report commentHmmmmm.....The guy is a postie and gets nearly killed by a tree at 3.30pm.
And they wonder why they have no sympathy for their strikes.
Workshy B******s
Recommend? Yes 21
No 3
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H.R. Pufnstuf
Unregistered User
May 27, 14:53
Report commentWhat a bunch of mean-spirited & petty-minded little comments, the bloke has just nearly been killed and the three of you come out with comments like those above. Why did you bother?, but it is the three posters that regularly make snide, sarcastic and unfunny remarks so it shouldn't come as any surprise.
Recommend? Yes 2
No 15
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duzzhenot
Unregistered User
May 27, 15:27
Report commenteven his wife thought he was an idiot
Recommend? Yes 14
No 0
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Ben Dover
Unregistered User
May 27, 15:42
Report commentH.R.Pufnstuff, are you perhaps a friend / relation of Mr Sutherland? Or maybe you are a similarly stupid golfer who, despite the weather warnings, insists on playing golf in even the most ridiculous of weather. You may have noticed, if you had read the above report, he actually made it to the third green before he decided to call it a day. If he had any sense about him he shouldn't have even left the house! The emergency services have more than enough to do without idiots like this adding to there workload.
Recommend? Yes 16
No 0
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Ben Dover
Unregistered User
May 27, 15:45
Report commentPS. 'there' should be 'their' before anyone points out my mistake!
Recommend? Yes 0
No 1
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Jeely Nay
Unregistered User
May 27, 16:05
Report commentThing is did, he get a round in at the clubhouse?
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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jan the man
Unregistered User
May 27, 16:29
Report commentben dover----agreed,ole hr must be another rancid golfer.
Recommend? Yes 5
No 0
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Shah Hoorsur
Unregistered User
May 27, 16:31
Report commentWhy on earth was this idiot playing golf in storm-force winds, especially on a course surrounded by trees?
I sincerely hope he's been sent a huge bill for the costs of the 2 ambulances and his medical treatment.
On the 3rd hole at 3.30pm on a weekday? Then I read he was a postie, so that explains it all :-)
Still off on the sick (again) Gogs??
Recommend? Yes 15
No 0
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******
May 27, 18:14
Report commentThis comment has been removed by a moderator
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brandobhoy7
Unregistered User
May 27, 18:38
Report comment -
snow shuvvel
Unregistered User
May 28, 17:54
Report commentMaybe he should have used a tree iron instead of a fairway wood, i'm sure that would have rootititoot.
Recommend? Yes 2
No 0
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NotHappyJan
192 posts
May 30, 03:30
Report commentOthers on this board have stated the obvious and have my full support. Those that disagree obviously need to enquire about further education.
Recommend? Yes 1
No 1
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Bailseye
Unregistered User
May 30, 19:20
Report commentGordon, get well soon. Hope someone gets you a kite and this doesn't affect your handy cap. I also had trouble in the bad weather. I almost hit a pasanger plane on my hand glider. Bloody ended up the Mallorca, which was nice...
Recommend? Yes 2
No 1
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Syd Parrott
Unregistered User
Jun 4, 15:03
Report commentCheats death by just 10 feet, that was like me last week. If I had just picked 6 completely different numbers I would have won the lottery.
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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