Sage Steele says she's lucky 'to still be here' after golf ball hit her face at PGA Championship

Sage Steele returned to SportsCenter on Wednesday for the first time since being hit by a golf ball while covering the PGA Championship on May 20. She was heading toward the fairway on the third hole at Southern Hills when she was hit in the face by an errant tee shot from John Rahm.

The ball bounced back into the fairway, as Steele crumpled to the ground.

"One moment you're out on a course just innocently watching amazing golfers play out at a golf major. Next moment, you're on the ground. You're in pain with your entire life flashing before your eyes, scared to death, trying to comprehend what the hell just happened," she said Wednesday on SportsCenter.

Sage Steele sues ESPN: Says 'she was punished for speaking her truth' about COVID vaccines

Steele thanked her ESPN colleague Matt Barr, who was with her when she was hit.

"Once I went to the ground, I didn't know what happened," she said. "I was so scared. I'm on the ground. I'm a mess, as you saw. I just looked at Matt and I just said, ‘Please don't leave me.’ I grabbed your ankle with my bloody hand. I said, ‘Please don't leave me.’ You pat me on the back and you're like, ‘You're gonna be good. You're fine.’ I don't know if you believed it, but you said it, and it meant the world to me. And then you helped get me on the stretcher, and then you came to the hospital, and then we took really disgusting pictures ... So thank you for making me smile throughout all of it. I love you with all my heart. I'll never forget it … I need you to know that you saved me."

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Steele was treated and released at a hospital in Tulsa after being hit and then continued recovering at home. She thanked her dentist, Matt Keefe with Canton Valley Dental, her friends and family and the "all those thousands of people who reached out and prayed for me who I'll never even meet."

"Thank you," she said, "because I felt all of it."

Steele graduated from Indiana University in 1995. Earlier this year, she filed a lawsuit against ESPN for allegedly violating her free speech rights after comments she made about COVID vaccines during an appearance on Jay Cutler’s podcast.

Follow IndyStar trending sports reporter Matthew VanTryon on Twitter @MVanTryon and email him story ideas at matthew.vantryon@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ESPN's Sage Steele 'scared to death' when golf ball hit her face