English golfer Aaron Rai caused a huge scare at the after accidentally firing an iron shot towards spectators and narrowly missing one man in particular. Rai began the second round in contention after his four-under-par 67 on Thursday, and had picked up a further shot by the time he reached the 16th.

The Englishman then endured a nightmare on the 535-yard par-four. It's regarded as one of the toughest holes on the course, and after his drive found the rough on the right, Rai tried to recover the situation despite his view to the fairway being impeded by a large tree. Rather than rescue matters, he completely mishit his shot, and his ball sped low towards the crowd on the right-hand side.

Spectators barely had time to react as the ball narrowly missed them and cannoned back off a tree trunk. Having endured a narrow escape, people then scrambled to see where Rai's ball had landed, with the tree just yards away from where he'd stood to take his second shot.

On ESPN, one commentator explained: "He was back in his stance just trying desperately to keep the ball low and under the tree and you can see, arms went across, grabbed the heel of the club, went directly right and slammed into that tree."

Footage of the incident soon went viral on social media and fans reacted, with @RKalland writing on X: "Aaron Rai almost domed someone there." @TimRantz referred to the man standing inches from the tree, adding: "Aaron Rai almost just killed a guy."

Many others echoed the same sentiments, with @SpencerSharpe20 writing: "Aaron Rai legitimately almost killed someone.... My goodness." @MaybeNotDan added #shank to his line of "Aaron Rai literally almost killed someone."

Rai would eventually find the green in four, but then missed an eight-footer for a bogey. He managed to steady himself to make par on the 17th, but the blow left him seven strokes back from leader Jhonattan Vegas.

The 30-year-old his playing in just his sixth major after making his PGA Championship debut last year. He finished tied for 39th in Valhalla, and is currently at a career high ranking of No.20 in the world.