Tyler Duncan had his best career PGA Tour finish last weekend, but he may have made his wife more famous than himself.
The Columbus native was playing the par-4 No. 13 in Friday’s second round of the Byron Nelson at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas, when he pushed his approach shot to the right of the green. The ball took a bounce and hit his wife Maria in the head.
Fortunately for Tyler and Maria, she wasn’t injured. And fortunately for Tyler, that was one of very few missed shots in the four-day tournament that ended with him in a tie for fifth place.
“It’s been a joke and a laughing point all along,” he said. “I think she’s more famous for that happening than for the golf I played throughout the week.”
Tyler didn’t know until after Friday’s round that he had hit his wife with the ball. He bogeyed that hole, but recovered to shoot 5-under-par 66 that day.
“After the round, she told me, and I was a little confused because I didn’t see it hit anyone,” Tyler said. “She let me just focus on what I was doing. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt or anything.”
Tyler, the 2007 IHSAA state champ, is a 2008 Columbus North High School graduate.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
