The European Tour has pledged "support for as long as necessary" to the spectator struck in the eye by a ball during last week's Ryder Cup.
Corine Remande was hit by a wayward tee shot by three-time major winner Brooks Koepka on the par-four sixth hole at Le Golf National in Paris and there have been reports she could lose the sight in her right eye.
The 49-year-old Frenchwoman was treated on the course and in a nearby hospital before being transferred to Lyon.
In a statement released to Press Association Sport, a Ryder Cup spokesperson said: "It is distressing to hear that someone might suffer long-term consequences from a ball strike.
"The spectator hit by a ball at the sixth hole during Friday's play was treated by first responders immediately and taken to hospital.
"We have been in communication with the family involved, starting with the immediate on-course treatment and thereafter to provide support, helping with the logistics of repatriation, including providing a transfer for the family from Paris to Lyon. We will continue to offer support for as long as necessary.
"Ball strikes are an occasional hazard for spectators but this kind of incident is extremely rare. We can confirm that 'fore' was shouted several times but also appreciate how hard it can be to know when and where every ball is struck if you are in the crowd.
"We are hugely sympathetic and will do everything we can to support the spectator, insofar as that is possible under very difficult circumstances."
Europe captain Thomas Bjorn told Press Association Sport: "For me, the whole team I represent and everybody at Ryder Cup Europe, it's just a terrible thing and something that you don't want to happen.
"It's terrible, it's a freak accident that's happened, and all our thoughts are with her."
Koepka, the reigning US Open and US PGA champion, went on to win his match with Tony Finau, beating Justin Rose and Jon Rahm, but was still upset about the incident afterwards.
"It looked like it hit her right in the eye, so hopefully there's no, you know, loss of vision or anything like that," Koepka said.
"But it's not a fun feeling. I probably do it way more than I should. It seems just about every week we're hitting somebody, and you know, it's unfortunate. You're never trying to.
"It doesn't feel good, it really doesn't. You feel terrible for them. You know exactly how they are feeling, especially when you've got to go over there and apologise, because they are in pain, usually bleeding, and then to hit her in the face - you don't want to hit anybody in the face, especially not a woman, and it's not a good feeling."
The tee on the sixth hole had been moved forward to allow players to attempt to drive the green, but Koepka's shot was pulled left into the crowd.
On television footage Koepka and other players can be heard shouting the traditional warning of "fore", but he added: "You can yell fore, but it doesn't matter.
"If you're 150 yards, you're shouting fore, you can hear it. But from 300 yards, even if none of us said fore, she's going to get hit, and that's the unfortunate thing."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here