MADISON - A 75-year-old man was killed Monday morning at the Odana Hills Golf Course.
Francis Adams of Madison was playing with a group of friends when a severe thunderstorm passed through the area.
Adams took shelter under a large pine tree. Lightning struck that tree and he died instantly.
"I don't know what he was doing out there,” fellow golfer Hans Helbel said.
“Obviously he was out here doing what he loved. If was here in the rain, he's a trooper,” Helbel said.
Adams was an avid golfer at Odana Hills.
“From what I understand, well liked by everyone,” Golf Supervisor Ray Shayne said.
Shayne works for the city parks department. He says Adams was with three other people when the storm struck. The other two took shelter in the club house. Adams was under a tree that was hit by lightning.
“Him being in close proximity to the tree, lightning passed through him and unfortunately it killed him,” Shayne said.
“For the officers on the scene, they say it was something they've never seen before,” Madison Police Department spokesman Mike Hanson said.
The city golf courses in Madison are play at your own risk. Shayne said workers don't go out on the course to tell people to leave.
“No we do not do that. We will stop you from starting a round of golf,” Shayne explained.
The weather was so bad that when police officers arrived they couldn't even get to the man. They had to seek shelter until the storm passed through.
Just last week three people were electrocuted in Madison. A mother and daughter were killed at a bus stop after lightning hit a power line that fell into a flooded street. A man was killed while trying to help them.
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