South Carolina’s top player suffers injury after team van crash in Georgia
The South Carolina men’s golf team was involved in an accident Sunday when driving home from its tournament in Statesboro, Georgia.
The team van t-boned a car that ran a red light on a two-lane highway in Waynesboro, Georgia, about an hour and a half from Columbia, South Carolina. Junior Nathan Franks, who earlier that day picked up the win in the Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights Country Club, was injured and will be out through at least the SEC Championship, assistant coach Brady Gregor told Golfweek.
Outside of whiplash, there were no other major injuries to players or coaches in the van. South Carolina was not at fault, per the police report.
South Carolina men’s golf team van after the accident. (Photo: Brady Gregor)
Franks, a junior from Roebuck, South Carolina, finished off his second victory this spring and was in the middle of the best stretch of golf in his life before the accident. He won the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate in February before picking up his latest win Sunday.
The injury was a hairline fracture in his right elbow. He will be in a sling for four weeks and be evaluated after to determine how much he has healed.
“He’s the type of kid that if he could play through it, he would,” Gregor said.
The van was traveling roughly 40 miles per hour when a Jeep Grand Cherokee ran a red light while making a left turn, causing a collision. The two vehicles then careened into a truck parked in a turn lane when the van came to a stop and the car spun. The driver of the vehicle attempted to drive away but got about 100 yards away before the car couldn’t go anymore.
Gregor was driving the van with Franks in the passenger seat and six others in the back of the van at the time of the collision.
South Carolina returns to action this week at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in Awendaw, South Carolina.
