{"id":560044,"date":"2026-03-24T00:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560044\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:39:17","slug":"young-girl-struck-run-over-by-a-golf-cart-at-valspar-championship-it-shouldnt-have-happened-golfer-brooks-koepka-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560044\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Girl Struck, Run Over by a Golf Cart at Valspar Championship: ‘It Shouldn’t Have Happened,’ Golfer Brooks Koepka Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

A young girl was struck and run over by a golf cart at the 2026 Valspar Championship<\/p>\n

The incident took place during the golf tournament in Palm Harbor, Fla., on March 21<\/p>\n

“It’s unfortunate. It shouldn’t have happened,” golfer Brooks Koepka said<\/p>\n

A young girl was run over by a golf cart at the 2026 Valspar Championship.<\/p>\n

The child was struck and pinned under the golf cart near the 15th hole during the second day of the golf tournament in Palm Harbor, Fla., on Saturday, March 21, Golf Channel<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

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PGA Tour winner Smylie Kaufman reported on the incident as he was covering Brooks Koepka<\/a> and Danny Walker during a third round at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course.<\/p>\n

\"Brooks<\/p>\n

Brooks Koepka playing during the third round of the 2026 Valspar Championship on March 21
Credit: James Gilbert\/Getty<\/p>\n

As medical staff tended to the child, Koepka, 35, also rushed over to her, according to the Golf Channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrooks Koepka went underneath the ropes to talk to the girl and comfort her,\u201d Kaufman, 34, said. \u201cShe\u2019s going to be okay after medical evaluation.”<\/p>\n

“[It was a] very scary moment … I am sure Brooks Koepka\u2019s head is still spinning a little bit,” he added.<\/p>\n

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The identity and age of the child struck has not been shared publicly.<\/p>\n

The golf cart that hit the young girl was transporting spectators around the course when the incident occurred, per the Golf Channel.<\/p>\n

The child wasn\u2019t seriously injured, Golfweek<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

\"Brooks<\/p>\n

Brooks Koepka at the 2026 Valspar Championship in Florida on March 21
Credit: James Gilbert\/Getty<\/p>\n

Reacting to the incident during a press conference after his match, Koepka said he \u201cfelt terrible\u201d for the young girl.<\/p>\n

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“From all the reports you’ve got, she’s okay, thankfully, so that’s all that matters, as long as she’s okay,” he added. “I know she’s probably a little scared. I just felt for her at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s unfortunate. It shouldn’t have happened. But as long as she’s okay, nothing crazy happened to her, then it will be okay,\u201d the golfer continued.<\/p>\n

Koepka made double-bogey at the par-4 16th on March 21, putting him seven shots away from Sungjae Im\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m a long ways away. I felt like I needed to get to, at least, it would have been nice to stay at 6,\u201d Koepka said, per Golf<\/a>. \u201cI need a real low one tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

PEOPLE reached out to the Valspar Championship for comment but did not receive an immediate response on Sunday, March 22.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW A young girl was struck and run over by a golf cart at the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,73434,263659,755,19759,11775,29991,274613,188950,85,270325],"class_list":["post-560044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brooks-koepka","tag-danny-walker","tag-golf","tag-golf-cart","tag-golf-channel","tag-golf-tournament","tag-innisbrook-resort","tag-smylie-kaufman","tag-sports","tag-valspar-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}