Black Widow Bites Golfer; Just Keeps Playing After Giving Self 'Surgery'
Golfer Daniela Holmqvist had a rather unusual experience playing her last round of golf in the LPGA Tour's season opener; Holmqvist was bitten by a poisonous black widow and had to quickly act in order to prevent serious injury.
Holmqvist was playing in Australia when she noticed a sharp pain in her ankle and swatted away the spider. She had no idea that it was a black widow until her caddies saw the bite and informed her of the danger she was in.
"When I told the local caddies in my group what had happened, they got very upset and said it was a black widow and immediately started looking for their phones to call the medics," Holmqvist told Svensk Golf.
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In the meantime, Holmqvist took action and used a golf tee to cut out the area around the bite in order to drain the venom from her ankle. According to reports, the poison can cause a range of reactions from muscle cramps to abdominal pain, nausea, dizziness or fainting, chest pain or difficulty breathing.
After performing the excision, Holmqvist continued playing her round of golf and managed to finish the final 14 holes. Of course, medics followed her in order to ensure her safety. Unfortunately, she did not qualify for the rest of the tournament, but Holmqvist is grateful to have walked away from the game with just a little pain.
"It still hurts," she said. "I don't recommend getting bitten by a black widow."
Not many golfers can say they've dealt with that type of handicap, though many sympathize with her high score of 74, which kept her out of the rest of the tournament. People from all over the world are praising her bravery and quick thinking, along with the determination to continue playing.
"Toughest person in golf?" tweeted Jason Sobel.
"Good effort form Daniela Holmqvist, battling on despite a spider bite, though that 74's gotta hurt," added Charlie Gordon.
"I asked the doctor if I could do a workout today… Her response "the death stare," Holmqvist tweeted yesterday.
