30 Jun 2021 | Amateur golf |
Burns victim's astonishing return to golf
by Martin Blake
Just more than four months after he suffered horrific burns in a distillery explosion, former Tasmanian captain Greg Longmore has made an emotional return to the game, celebrating with a 66 at Launceston Golf Club.
Longmore’s remarkable story was told on ‘Inside The Ropes’ this week.
Longmore suffered burns to 40 percent of his body in the 9 February accident at his workplace in the Tasmanian town of Perth, and he was given only a 15 percent chance of surviving. He spent a fortnight in an induced coma at Hobart Hospital, and needed wife Erin and others to tell him what happened.
There was an outpouring of love and support for the father of two young daughters, with more than $100,000 raised for the family with the Tasmanian golf community leading the way.
Having resumed golf, he now wears bandages “from my ankles to the top of my neck” when he plays, but he hopes to get his game back to a level where he can play in an Australian Open.
“I just fluked it, I think,” he said. “Just to be out here and breathing the fresh Tasmanian air is enough for me. I’ve just taken a step back to golf, and the scores are starting to creep down lower. I don’t know if it’s just my mindset in golf now, that I’m using it for rehab and trying to get other people to play the game using my story, just that you can use it for medical relief.”
Hear the interview on Inside The Ropes
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