Greg Norman Hospitalized: Updates on Golf Star's Hand After Chainshaw Accident

Updates from Wednesday, Sept. 17

Greg Norman has revealed he had a premonition that something bad was about to happen just moments before he nearly cut off his left hand with a chainsaw.

Norman told Frank Keogh of BBC Sport:

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I had this premonition and almost pulled out of it, but I thought it's not a big tree, not a real difficult task to do. We all have premonitions. That one was just unusually prophetic I guess. I nearly didn't go down and chainsaw. The moral of the story is to trust your internal mechanism.

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Norman described how the incident occurred, revealing:

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I was about four branches from being done, and there was one branch about chest high and I cut through and took my finger off the trigger. The branch was just about ready, was falling straight down, and I went to grab it with my left hand, but it was a little heavier than I anticipated.

The weight took my arm, right above where you wear your watch on your left wrist, and took it right into the chains as it was spooling down. I was very lucky in a lot of ways. If the chainsaw was going at full speed my hand would have been cut off and it missed my ulna nerve and muscles, so I was extremely, extremely lucky in that regard, by fractions of millimetres.

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The 59-year-old is already forming a timeline for his recovery, insisting he will pick up a golf club as soon as he is given the all-clear by his doctor:

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I've already started doing my own rehabbing exercises by putting the index finger of my right hand into my left hand and gripping it like a golf club, squeezing my top three fingers.

If my recovery allows me to getting back to hitting balls in three weeks, I think I'll be back with a putter in my hand, maybe a chipper just to see how I feel. That's Greg Norman's word for it though, not the doctor's.

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Updates from Monday, Sept. 15

Shark.com's Staff provides a statement from Greg Norman in addition to details on his recovery:

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Both Norman and the doctors expect him to have a full, speedy recovery and to be able to return back to playing golf and attacking life shortly.

'Thank you to everyone for their concern and well wishes. I look forward to getting back out there to attack that tree like I planned on doing yesterday. No tree is going to keep me down,' commented Norman.

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Original Text

Two-time British Open champion Greg Norman says he's "lucky" to still have his left hand after suffering an unfortunate chainsaw accident at his estate in Jupiter Island, Florida. 

"The Shark" took to Twitter and Instagram on Saturday to caution his followers about using such inherently dangerous tools after being hospitalized:

Norman was a dominant force in golf throughout the 1980s and 1990s, enjoying 331 weeks ranked as the world No. 1, winning more than 85 international tournaments.

Last week, the 59-year-old posted an image on Instagram depicting him with a chainsaw, smiling for the camera as he prepared to cut down a small tree:

Several days later, that post has taken on new meaning, with details of his health currently unknown. The official Professional Golfers' Association website states that Norman "almost cut off his hand."

As such, it's unclear as to how the senior tour member's ability to continue playing will be affected, but Norman's description of the mishap indicates there's a chance some level of permanent damage could have been sustained.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

That's little more than speculation at this early stage, but a chainsaw injury to an arm or hand is a rare and bizarre occurrence, among the worst imaginable from a golfer's point of view.

It's been 21 years since Norman won the second of his two Open Championship titles, but the veteran has continued to feature at a high level, most recently competing on the 2012 Champions Tour.