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PGA tour golfer Bill Haas needed hospital treatment but escaped serious injury following a crash last week in the US city of Los Angeles that killed the driver of the Ferrari he was travelling in, and seriously injured a driver of a BMW.
Haas, who had been in the passenger seat of the Ferrari, had pain and swelling in his legs, but no broken bones.
The Ferrari’s driver, who died at the scene, was Mark Gibello. Haas was staying with his family as he prepared to play in the Genesis Open at nearby Riviera Country Club, the golfer’s manager Allen Hobbs said.
“While Bill escaped serious injuries and has been released from the hospital, he is understandably shaken up and, more importantly, his deepest condolences go out to the host family during this tragic and difficult time,” Hobbs said in a statement. The 35-year-old Haas withdrew from the Genesis Open.
Bill Harmon, the swing coach for Haas and a close friend of Gibello, said the two only met last Thursday. Harmon said Gibello was a member at LA Country Club and was instrumental in it getting the Walker Cup last year and the US Open in 2023. “Mark was one of my best friends,” Harmon said. “It’s a great loss for me. I’m happy that Bill is fine. It’s just a very, very sad story.”
Haas is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour whose most prominent victory was at the Tour Championship in 2011, which enabled him to win the FedEx Cup and the $10m bonus. His most famous shot was in a playoff at the Tour Championship, when his ball was partially submerged in a lake.
He comes from a prominent golfing family. His father won nine times on the PGA Tour and 18 times on the PGA Tour Champions and his great uncle, Bob Goalby, won the 1968 Masters.
Hollywood movie star Luke Wilson played a real-life hero in the aftermath of a crash. Wilson, whose own car was clipped by the Ferrari, pulled a 50-year-old woman from the smoking wreckage of her BMW. “He was the hero, he led the charge,” said tattoo artist Sean Heirigs, who was right behind the accident.
Wilson, 46, who starred in Legally Blonde and Idiocracy, feared the smoke coming from her car meant it could go up in flames and devised a plan to free her.
“We were able to get her leg out, Luke pulled her free and then we both carried her to the curb,” said Sean.
“This was all going on while the Ferrari’s wheels were still spinning and blowing rubber, smoke everywhere and there was a lot of glass too.”
