Brit Dies After Being Struck By Lightning On Course

Sarah Oldham, 39, was struck by lightning in Turkey and eventually died 12 days later

Brit Dies After Being Struck By Lightning On Course

An Englishwoman from Cambridgeshire has died after being struck by lightning whilst on a golfing holiday in Belek, Turkey.

Sarah Oldham, 39, suffered a cardiac arrest whilst sheltering under an umbrella with her husband.

She passed away 12 days after being airlifted to hospital in the UK.

The pair were playing their third round of golf in Belek before she was struck by lightning.

Her husband Alex told the Daily Mail: "We went out for a round of golf and despite the forecast being clear it started to rain about an hour and a half into the game.

"We heard a crack of thunder but it was a long way off. It then really started to rain hard.

"Sarah went to one side of the fairway, which is surrounded by thousands of really tall trees, and I went to the other, we both crouched down and put our umbrellas up.

"There was an almighty crack of thunder, I turned around and couldn't see Sarah's umbrella. I ran over to her and I realised she had been struck."

On her golf, Sarah's husband Alex said, "In recent she years she really improved to such an extent I had to up my own game to beat her."

Professional golfers to have been struck by lightning include Lee Trevino and Retief Goosen.

Trevino was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open, where he said one his famous quotes: “If you’re caught in a storm and are afraid of lighting, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.”

At the 1991 US Open, a spectator was killed by lightning, with five others injured.

How many lives do lightning strikes take?

Golfers in the UK have been struck and killed by lightning in August 1999, June 2003, June 2005, May 2014 and May 2017.

In the past 30 years, around 60 people have been killed by lightning in the UK, and another 20 people have been resuscitated who would otherwise have died.

Four out of five UK lightning deaths are male.

Around ten times as many people are injured by lightning than killed (risk of being injured is 1 in 3 million).

Most people survive due to the ‘flashover’ effect of lightning passing over a person’s clothing and body rather than entering into the body and causing a cardiopulmonary arrest which, rather than burns, is the only cause of immediate death amongst those struck.

Don't forget to follow Golf Monthly on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram