Officially, it says that Ryan Lenahan WD'd from the Michigan PGA Eastern Chapter Championship last month.
More accurately, Lenahan was KO'd.
Lenahan, a golf pro from New Hudson who teaches at Walnut Creek Country Club in South Lyon, was struck in the head by an errant golf ball during the final round of a pivotal tournament last month, and during a pivotal point in his season. The ball, which came off another player's 3 wood from about 250 yards away, left Lenahan unconscious, knocked him out of the tournament, and landed him in the emergency room. And it could've been a whole lot worse.
"It was a very unlucky situation and I was really lucky," Lenahan said last week, with a massive gash on his temple, the ball having missed his eye by two inches.
"It's one of those things, where it could've gone a whole different direction.
"I'm really fortunate."
He's alive, for starters.
And Lenahan still gets to tee it up this week in one of the biggest tournaments of his life, the PGA Cup, a Ryder Cup-style event for club pros that pits Team USA against Team Great Britian & Ireland. Lenahan, despite concerns over his freak injury and his ability to travel overseas (he suffered a concussion), will play in the second group of the opening morning session Friday, Oct. 2, at The K Club just outside Dublin. There are four sessions of two-man team matches Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3, and the tournament finishes Sunday, Oct. 4, with singles matches.
It's a tournament Lenahan — who qualified for the PGA Championship in 2025 and 2026 — has been looking forward to for months, and his status was in serious doubt until just hours before he made the flight overseas last weekend.
Like the Ryder Cup, the PGA Cup is only played every two years.
"That would've been crushing" to miss that, said Lenahan, 42.
Lenahan, director of instruction at Walnut Creek, has established himself as one of the best competitive club pros in the state in recent years, and he was the 2025 Michigan PGA player of the year. He was in great position to repeat as player of the year in 2026, entering the final points-earning event of the season, the Michigan PGA Eastern Chapter Championship on Monday, Sept. 21, at Eagle Crest Golf Club, at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
Lenahan opened the tournament with a 1-over 73 in the morning opening round and was in great position for a top-five finish in the tournament, which would've cemented his repeat as Michigan PGA player of the year.He got off to a solid start in Round 2, the afternoon round of the 36-hole day. He had just finished playing the par-5 fifth hole, a dogleg right, and he was grabbing a few clubs from his cart as he prepared to play the par-3 sixth hole. That's when he heard a big bang.
"Out of nowhere, I heard a really loud noise, and I was thinking to myself, 'What's going on?' I was so confused, I couldn't concentrate, my awareness and my (depth) perception completely went away," Lenahan said. "Then, I'm tripping and falling.
"And everything went blank."
The noise was so loud, his playing competitors thought something actually hit off the top of one of the carts, which were parked between the fifth green and the sixth tee, off to the left. But the ball — hit by a competitor in the group behind who was going for the par-5 fifth green in two; nobody yelled fore, but the cart path between holes also was obscured a bit by trees on the left — actually hit squarely off Lenahan's head. And it knocked him out, cold.
The next thing Lenahan remembers, he woke up lying on the ground. His hands and head were covered in blood, a playing competitor was standing over him, another was on the phone with 911, and he could hear the wail of an ambulance in the background.
Before long, he was surrounded by paramedics and police, and he was being loaded onto the back of a golf cart and taken to the waiting ambulance (which couldn't get down to the fifth and sixth holes). He was loaded into the ambulance — the player who hit the errant shot was there, in tears, and asked to accompany Lenahan, but Lenahan insisted he keep playing (he's repeatedly checked in, via text) — and rushed to UM Hospital.Lenahan got seen quickly in the ER, by one physican, then another. A CT scan showed no bleeding on the brain, the biggest initial concern ("that was a huge relief"), but he was diagnosed with a concussion. Remarkably Lenahan was released that evening, which just happened to be his wedding anniversary to wife Amy.
"Fourteen years. Wait, 13," Lenahan said, with a laugh. "Blame it on the brain fog!"
Once it became clear Lenahan was going to be OK, he reached out to Michigan PGA officials to see if there was any way he'd be able to make up the rest of his final round, given the unique circumstances of his tournament exit. But there is no rule that makes an exception for a player getting knocked out by an opponent's golf ball — it's such a rare occurrence, especially on a shot like that, from such long distance — and so Michigan PGA officials' hands were tied. There was nothing they could do.
And, so, Lenahan, who the week before the accident lost in the finals of the Michigan PGA Match Play Championship, ended up finishing second in the points standings for 2026 Michigan PGA player of the year.It was another punch to the gut — which, for the record, still beats a blow to the head.
"I was incredibly disappointed," said Lenahan, the Grosse Pointe North alum who also lost out on a decent day's paycheck — top eight made at least $1,000, no small thing for a modest-salary club pro. (He was given $400, equivalent to last-place money.) "I felt like it was kind of taken away from me."Lenahan spent the next two days in dark rooms, trying to manage the concussion symptoms. It didn't go great, though his spirits were boosted by texts from his PGA Cup teammates, many of whom he hadn't even yet met. He actually was back playing again three days later, in a tournament in the Lansing area that he would've bailed on if it wasn't a team event. He didn't want to bail on his partner. He also wanted to see how he was feeling, ahead of the PGA Cup.
Again, that didn't go great, but he really wanted to play the PGA Cup, and the doctors, in his follow-up visit, left it up to him. That's all he needed to hear. This past Saturday, he flew with Amy to Ireland, first-class (thanks, PGA of America). It's their first time there. On Tuesday, he participated in opening ceremonies and other pre-tournament hoopla, like official team photos (they airbrushed out the welt on his head), and fancy dinners. He also played practice rounds with USA teammates Wednesday and Thursday and was feeling much better. Still, he's had a sinking feeling his captain might sit him out during the opening session Friday — each team carries 10 players, and only eight play each of the first four sessions — to ease him back into competition, but Lenahan insisted he was good to go.
And, so, Lenahan will be on the first tee Friday morning, decked out in red, white and blue, from head to toe.All that's missing will be a helmet.
"I'm alive. I may some have some short-term memory loss," said Lenahan, who will try to help lead Team USA to its fourth consecutive win in the PGA Cup. "I taught (recently), and I told somebody, if this short-term memory loss eliminates all the bad shots I've hit recently, then I'm completely fine with that."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Michigan golf pro 'really fortunate' after being KO'd by ball to head
