AN IRISH teenager injured during a lightning strike at a golf tournament in the US has opened up about his experience.
Ryan Murphy, from Cookstown in Co Tyrone, was hurt while watching Rory McIlroy compete in the PGA tour finale in Atlanta over the weekend.
Though initial reports suggested Murphy had been struck by lightning, it has since been theorised that he was most likely knocked out by debris from a tree which was hit.
Speaking to RTE 1 over the weekend, the Irishman recalled how he was forced to take shelter under the tree after the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse.
"The weather wasn't too bad, there was a tiny bit of rain and then it stopped. That was when I decided to walk from where I was over to the fan shop. As I was walking the lightning struck."
Though he remains unsure as to what hit him exactly, the force was enough to throw him to the ground and knock him unconscious.
When he came round, he was surrounded by people, who told him he had been hit by lightning.
His Irish accent confused the situation further, with some of those coming to his aid left thinking he was slurring his words, rather than sounding like any Tyrone native.
NBC just showed a lightning strike out at the #TOURChampionship at East Lake that injured possibly 4. This is a slow motion shot of their coverage. Wow! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/0Z1ARb6a8q
— Craig Lucie (@CraigLucie) August 24, 2019
“When I woke up I was just surrounded by people,” Murphy told RTE.
"I had no identification on me, so they were trying to figure out who I was and where I was from. I don't know whether it was the accent."
Murphy was treated by ambulance staff at the scene before being rushed to a nearby hospital.
He spent seven hours in hospital before being discharged, badly bruised and a little shaken to boot.
An avid golf fan, the 19-year-old has spent the past summer working as a lifeguard in the US before heading to Atlanta to watch his beloved McIlroy in action.
Despite missing out on much of the action, the four-time Major winner’s team have been in touch and some merchandise is winging its way to the golf fan as we write.
Now back home in Ireland, Murphy is gearing up to start college at Queens this September and has one hell of a story to tell his friends.
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