On April 25, 1992, three-time LPGA winner Cathy Gerring suffered devastating burns in a tournament hospitality tent. She returned to golf years later, but the damage to her hands changed her career forever.

She was playing in the Sara Lee Classic at Hermitage Golf Course in the Nashville area of Tennessee. Cathy Gerring had completed her second round at the Sara Lee Classic on April 25, 1992, when she and her husband, Jim, visited the tournament’s hospitality tent in Old Hickory, Tennessee.

Players had received notes inviting them to visit the tent and thank the tournament sponsors. Gerring wanted to practice, while Jim wanted something to eat.

After trying and praising the chicken, Jim encouraged his wife to return to the buffet.

That ordinary decision placed Gerring beside a catering burner that would soon cause devastating injuries.

A chef told Gerring that one burner had stopped working and needed attention. She waited near the table while a catering staff member attempted to refill it with denatured alcohol. But the burner was still lit.

As the alcohol was added, an explosion followed. Fuel splashed onto Gerring, and flames engulfed her from the waist up.

Contemporary reporting offered a slightly different explanation for the ignition. An initial LPGA statement reported by the Tampa Bay Times said a gust of wind entered the tent, and the alcohol tank ignited during refilling.

As the flames spread across her body, Gerring ran. Her husband chased after her, grabbed a tablecloth, and tackled her to the ground in an attempt to smother the fire.

The scene was chaotic, and the severity of the situation left people momentarily frozen. Gerring later recalled shouting, “Somebody call 9-1-1!”

She was eventually taken by air ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

A report published the following day described her as stable in the hospital’s burns intensive care unit, with first- and second-degree burns to her face and hands.

Speaking later, she recalled that her throat began swelling and that she received treatment after arriving at Vanderbilt.

“I got burned 20 years ago and if I told you the ironies and the things I have been through since then, and where I’ve been, it would blow your mind that I am right back here where it started for me,” she said when she returned to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2012 for the first time since the accident. “Because this is where I left a piece of me. I never knew that I needed to come back until I got here.”

The injuries were severe enough to make her question whether she would ever compete again.

“I knew my career was over,” Gerring later said.

At that moment, the statement reflected her fear and understanding of the damage she had suffered. It was not, however, the final chapter of her playing career.

The facial burns made the accident immediately visible, but the damage to Cathy Gerring’s hands proved especially damaging to her professional future.

Golf depends on the hands for feel, grip pressure, control, and consistency. Even a small change in sensation can affect a player’s ability to deliver the club reliably. Gerring faced a much greater challenge.

The LPGA’s official biography records that she did not compete in official LPGA events from 1993 through 1995 because of the extensive burns to her hands and face.

She described the resulting swelling as feeling like she was trying to grip a club with “a Michelin man’s hands.”

Gerring wore compression gloves when she began playing again to manage the swelling. Yet the ability to grip a club and complete a round was different from having the touch required to compete against the world’s best golfers.

But Cathy Gerring returned to the game after several years away from official LPGA competition.

She made a brief comeback and even qualified for the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open. Her return was a meaningful achievement after the injuries she had suffered, but it did not erase their consequences.

Her first rounds back included playing with fellow professional Juli Inkster and Inkster’s husband, Brian, at Pebble Beach and Cypress Point.

Inkster visited Gerring in the hospital after completing her own round. She later recalled the severity of the injuries, saying, “Her head was the size of a basketball.”

That support extended beyond the hospital and the immediate aftermath.

Dottie Pepper, another friend and Gerring’s Solheim Cup teammate, also remembered the day of the accident. Pepper was on the 10th tee when Gerring was airlifted away, and play was stopped.

Her father, Bill Kratzert, also struggled to see her injuries. According to Gerring, he left the room almost immediately.

“He couldn’t handle it,” she recalled.

An earlier interview published in Global Golf Post in its March 8, 2021, digital edition offered further insight into their shared disappointment. Gerring remembered that her father had sensed her career was over and never raised the subject again in the years that followed.

Zach, her son, was three years old when the accident occurred. Her words describe how motherhood gave her a reason to keep moving forward.

The accident also led to legal action. According to an April 13, 1995, Los Angeles Times report, Gerring reached an out-of-court settlement with Service America Inc., the defendant in her lawsuit alleging negligence and defective products. The lawsuit sought $25 million, but the settlement terms were confidential.

Cathy Gerring’s experience belongs to a broader history of professional golfers whose careers have been disrupted by serious injuries. One of them is Dottie Pepper, who witnessed the immediate aftermath of Gerring’s accident. Shoulder surgery limited her to one tournament in 2002, and continuing neck and shoulder problems disrupted her attempts to return.

In 2004, a pinched nerve caused numbness that radiated from her face to her shoulder. She announced her retirement that July at age 38.

Grace Park, who won six LPGA titles, including the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship, also suffered a similar fate. She won in each of her first five LPGA seasons and earned the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average in 2004.

A back injury began disrupting her career in 2005, followed by neck and hip problems. She underwent two surgeries and missed much of the next three years before announcing her retirement at the 2012 LPGA Championship, aged 33.

Park once hoped to regain her previous standing, saying, “I wanted to give it one last chance at becoming one of the top golfers again.”

Michelle Wie West also offers a more recent example of how injuries can shape a golfer’s career. The major champion dealt with persistent wrist problems that caused lengthy absences and periods of playing through pain.

In a 2022 interview-based report, she discussed the importance of being more open about her struggles.

“This hurts. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play,” she said.

Wie West added that athletes could be champions while acknowledging their vulnerability and imperfections.

Before the accident, Cathy Gerring had built a successful career on the LPGA Tour. Her best season came in 1990, when she won three tournaments and earned a place on the United States team for the inaugural Solheim Cup.

She joined an American lineup featuring Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley, Patty Sheehan, Beth Daniel, Betsy King, Dottie Pepper, and Rosie Jones. The eight players had collectively won 214 LPGA Tour events and 24 major championships.

Golf was also a family pursuit for Cathy Gerring. Her father, Bill Kratzert, was the head professional at Fort Wayne Country Club and introduced her to the sport. Her brother, Billy Kratzert, went on to win four PGA Tour titles.