Pro golfer Andrea Pavan was injured after he fell down an elevator shaft and had to drop out of the DP World Tour’s Investec South African Open.
Pavan fell several floors in the elevator shaft at a building where he was staying near Cape Town, South Africa, Golf Channel reported.
According to The Associated Press, Pavan called for the elevator, but when the doors opened, the car was not there.
“By all accounts, he’s in good spirits, thankful to be alive and FaceTiming with his kids,” Pavan’s former Texas A&M coach, J.T. Higgins, told Golf Channel. He noted he did not speak to Pavan directly but had been updated.
Pavan released a statement through DP World Tour, which read,
“I would like to say a big thank you for all the kind words and wishes I have received over the last 48 hours. I had surgery on my shoulder and my back on Wednesday evening and I am currently recovering in hospital.
“I now have a lot of rehab and hard work ahead of me, but the care I have received so far from the Mediclinic hospital staff has been incredible, as has the support from the DP World Tour, the Sunshine Tour and all their staff here in Stellenbosch. I am also very grateful for all the help Johann Rupert and his wife Gaynor have given me.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the golfer and his family as he recovers.
Pavan has won the DP World Tour twice, according to the BBC.