Koepka ‘grateful’ after daughter escapes injury in golf cart incident

of Valspar Championship was temporarily halted during Saturday’s third round when a young spectator was hit by a golf cart.

Brooks Koepka was among the first to offer comfort to the girl; he was playing the par-3 15th, got under the ropes and went to check it.

On the NBC broadcast, Dan Hicks said the girl had ended up under the trolley, which was carrying spectators. But journalist on foot Smylie Kaufman explained that she had escaped serious injury.

“She’ll be fine after medical evaluation,” Kaufman reported when Hicks returned to the scene. “Very scary moment.”

After his round, Koepka offered his perspective on the incident.

“Not for golf, no,” he said, when asked if the incident had affected his game. “I just felt terrible, I believe her name is Shay, so from all the reports you’ve gotten, she’s fine, thankfully. So that’s all that matters, as long as she’s okay.

“I know she’s probably a little scared and I just felt it at the time. So it’s unfortunate, it shouldn’t have happened, but as long as she’s okay, no, nothing crazy has happened to her, then it’ll be okay.”

Koepka made double on the par-4 16th; he sits T11 at four under par through three rounds, seven shots off Sungjae Im’s lead.

“I’m so far away. I felt I should at least get there, it would be nice to stay in the 6,” he said. “I need a real low tomorrow.”