Omahan sues fellow golfer for tee shot in the head

BY TODD COOPER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

This one may require a deposition on the pin position.

An Omaha man, Matthew J. Miller, has sued a fellow golfer for nearly hitting a hole in one.

The problem: The hole the golfer almost hit was Miller's ear.

The lawsuit, filed this month in Douglas County District Court, says golfer Joseph Hammon hit his tee shot into Miller's head, just above the ear, as Miller was walking off the second green at Pacific Springs Golf Course on June 24, 2006.

Miller's attorney, James Knowles Jr. of Omaha, said the golf ball knocked Miller out momentarily, causing him to fall and strain his neck and shoulder.

It also has led Miller, 33, to suffer from recurring migraine headaches, Knowles said.

Though the lawsuit isn't the first in the state to involve golf, it could make a divot in legal theory.

Namely, the lawsuit poses the question: How much inherent risk does a golfer assume when he steps on the course?

An attorney for Hammon said the risk of a golfer getting hit by a golf ball is no different from the risk of a fan getting hit by a ball at a baseball game. In essence, the attorney said, it's the price of admission.

Knowles acknowledged that golfers may be at risk of errant shots.

But two factors — rooted in the protocol of the gentlemen's sport — make this case different and make Hammon negligent, Knowles said.

First, Knowles argued, Hammon hit his tee shot on the par 3 second hole without waiting for the players in front of him to clear the putting green.

Miller says one of his playing partners was still putting the flagstick in the hole and Miller was on his way from the green to his golf cart when he was hit.

"It's common courtesy to wait," Knowles said. "I would be loathe to tee off if people were on the green and in the zone of danger."

Second, Knowles said, Miller didn't hear anyone yell "Fore!" from the tee box.

Stacy Jo Ferrel, an attorney who initially represented Hammon, said there was a simple reason for that: Hammon looked and believed that the green was clear before hitting his shot. So did his playing partners.

The second tee box at Pacific Spring sits on a hill, about 160 yards from the green below. From the elevated tee box, a large tree partially blocks golfers' view of the left side of the green — where golfers exit the green and head to their carts.

The ball may have bounced off that tree before striking Miller, Ferrel said.

Hammon, a radio host on KAT 103, met up with Miller in the clubhouse, apologized and bought him a beer, Ferrel said.

"He thought that would be the end of it," she said. "(Two) years later, he gets this lawsuit. It seems highly suspect."

Knowles said there's nothing suspect about it.

Miller, who does computer work at Methodist Hospital, went to the emergency room to get checked out that day — and has experienced migraines since. He didn't wait months or cook up some artificial injuries, Knowles said.

He is seeking $6,200 in medical expenses, plus general damages.

Hammon declined to comment on the particulars of the case.

He said he is a bogey golfer who plays about once every two weeks. He said he is not a golf assassin — and has never hit anyone else.

But one time, he said, his ball ended up about 20 yards behind a tree. He intended to wrap the ball around the tree and into the fairway.

Instead, the ball hit the trunk and zipped right back into him, leaving a welt.

In the end, he decided against suing the tree.

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