Sage Steele returned to the set of ESPN’s SportsCenter after suffering a horrific injury at last month’s PGA Golf Championship.
Steele was overcome with emotion as she returned to the set on Wednesday. She was at home recovering from dental surgery to replace several teeth she lost when a golf ball hit her in the mouth.
Steele thanked SportsCenter co-host Matt Barrie for staying by her side after the accident. Three weeks later, she said she’s the luckiest person in the world to still be here and still be standing:
“It is amazing how quickly life can change, right? One moment you are out on a course just innocently watching amazing golfers play… and you are on the ground, you are in pain with your entire life flashing before your eyes. Scared to death and trying to comprehend what the hell just happened. And you were there. You were with me throughout that whole thing.”
She continued: “I didn’t know what happened and I was so scared, and I want people to know this. I am on the ground, a mess, as you saw, and I just looked at Matt and I said, please don’t leave me. I grabbed your ankle with my bloody hand and I said please don’t leave me and you patted me on the back and said you are going to be good. You are 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 you came to the hospital.”
Steele is co-host of the 12pm SportsCenter on ESPN. She also hosts SportsCenter on the Road from various sporting events such as the Super Bowl and The Masters.
