Pro sports' challenge

NEW YORK -- Tiger Woods had a rough weekend at the British Open, and so too did Jennifer Wilson, the 63-year-old fan who required two stitches to her bloodied head after she was beaned by one of his wayward shots.

Her injury highlighted the perennial challenge faced by those who oversee golf and other big-time spectator sports -- finding the proper balance between fans' proximity to the action and their safety.

Major-league baseball teams warn fans before every game to be alert for foul balls and the occasional flying bat. Sunday, a 35-year-old minor-league baseball coach was killed when he was struck by a line drive at a game in Arkansas.

NASCAR has heightened fences to keep flying debris out of the grandstands. The National Hockey League ordered safety netting installed at each end of NHL arenas after a 13-year-old girl was killed by a deflected puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game in 2002.

At the Tour de France, which concludes Sunday, fan safety has for years been a source of controversy and concern as thousands of spectators line the route each day, usually without any barriers separating them from the cyclists.

One boy was killed in 2000 and another in 2002 by sponsors' vehicles accompanying the race, and a 78-year-old man was badly injured this year when struck by German rider after the eighth stage.

Golf's ruling powers have as tough a task as anyone, given the huge throngs that attend major tournaments and the inevitability that even the best pros will send an occasional shot soaring off course.

PGA Tour spokesman Bob Combs said technology, along with common sense, has enabled them to minimize the risk while affording fans a close-up view of the action.

"It's something we're very mindful of," Combs said. "We try to educate fans to stay alert, to stand away from likely areas of play."

The PGA now uses lasers to map the shot location by every competitor. Over a period of years, if the tour returns to a given course, the PGA is able to identify areas that are safe for fans, and it ropes the course accordingly, Combs said.

"We also keep an eye on the weather," he said. "If a strong wind is coming up, and pushing balls to an area where they were not anticipated, we adjust the roping on a given day."

On television, it sometimes appears that a golfer playing from the rough must hit through a narrow opening lined by fans on each side. Combs said the perspective on TV can be misleading, and the tournament marshals ensure there is ample open space for any shot.

Wilson, the woman conked by Woods' approach shot Saturday, emerged from her ordeal in good spirits, but the event was unsettling.

"I had a pit in my stomach," Woods said. "There was blood all over the place. I don't know how she was smiling."

Wilson and a freelance photographer beaned the same day by a tee shot of Sergio Garcia both received autographed golf gloves as compensation for their pains.

In baseball, fans hit by thrown bats are sometimes offered a souvenir bat.

But MLB teams are adamant they bear no legal responsibility for injuries from thrown bats or batted balls, and they print detailed disclaimers on the backs of tickets.

In 2004, an appellate court in Massachusetts threw out a lawsuit by a woman who said she incurred nearly $500,000 in medical costs and lost wages after being struck in the face by a foul ball at a Boston Red Sox game.

Even someone with scant knowledge of baseball should realize that "a central feature of the game is that batters will forcefully hit balls that may go astray from their intended direction," the court ruled.

Though dozens of MLB fans are struck by balls each season, there has been only one fatality, according to researchers -- a 14-year-old boy killed by a line drive at Dodger Stadium in 1970.

Until 2002, the NHL had gone through its entire history without a fan being killed by a flying puck. But in March of that year, a 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil was struck in the head on a shot by Columbus' Espen Knutsen that deflected into the stands.

She died two days later, and her parents eventually got a $1.2 million settlement from the team, the league and the arena management.

Brittanie's death prompted the NHL to require safety nets at both ends of the ice. Initially, many fans were displeased, saying their view from the behind the goals was now distorted.

Not all fan injuries result from flying objects.

In 2004, Oakland Athletics fan Jennifer Bueno suffered a broken nose from a chair thrown by Texas Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco, who was angered by heckling from Bueno's husband. Earlier this season, Paul Robinson broke his neck when a fan at Yankee Stadium toppled onto him from a higher row; Robinson said the man was drunk.

Whatever the risks for spectators, they are perhaps greater for coaches.

Gil Haskell, a Green Bay Packers assistant coach, suffered a skull fracture when he was bowled over by a player on the sidelines of the NFC title game in 1996. Another sideline collision last season left Penn State head coach Joe Paterno with a broken shinbone and two torn knee ligaments.

And Sunday's death in North Little Rock, Ark., raises the question of whether base coaches must wear helmets.

"The safety of players and fans and people is the ballpark is always our No. 1 priority, and it is something we will be discussing," baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said.