Pavan optimistic of return after lift shaft fall

Italian Andrea Pavan said he is "optimistic" about a return to playing after he fell down an open lift shaft in February.

The incident occurred before the South African Open at Pavan's private accommodation near Stellenbosch Golf Club when the lift doors opened but there was no lift car in the shaft, causing him to drop three stories down.

The 36-year-old was taken to a local hospital with severe shoulder damage and fractures to several vertebrae in his back, and had major surgery.

"It's hard to say a precise goal, there's more like steps," said Pavan.

"Around three months we'll see how well the bone has healed. Around six months it's about where complete bone healing happens and we'll see how the joint is moving by then.

"It depends on if there are other tissues that were damaged if I need a second surgery. And there's the possibility of necrosis when the blood flow is not sufficient for the bones. There is that risk, but so far it seem like things are positive enough.

"The shoulder is a very demanding joint. Hopefully it's a little less than a year that I can play with a full swing but it's just so new and such a big injury there just a lot of unknowns. But I'm hopeful and the only thing I can do is to try and improve and take it day by day."

On the day of the incident, Pavan had been preparing to drive to the Stellenbosch course for breakfast and an afternoon pro-am tee, when he returned to his apartment to retrieve a locker key that had been left there.

Speaking to the Naga Munchetty programme on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: "I walked back towards the elevator, I opened the door - one of those doors that get into the apartment straight away - and by the time I realised the lift wasn't there I'd already taken a step.

"The next thing I know I'm just at the bottom of the elevator, luckily not unconscious but in a lot of pain and screaming for help.

"Somebody heard and I was somehow able to get my phone out and call my caddie, who was in the car. From then on it was just trying to survive the pain and waiting for the ambulance and all the firefighters who got me out."

The two-time DP World Tour winner spent seven days in hospital in South Africa, having surgery on a complete fracture of his shoulder, and has now returned to his home in Texas.

Pavan paid tribute to the "amazing" support from the golfing world during his time in hospital.

"The amount of people who came to the hospital to visit me when the tournament was happening was truly overwhelming," he said.

"There were a lot of players - friends of mine - who actually stayed up to 2am and waited for me to get out of surgery and they were playing in the tournament the next day, Matteo Manassero, Manuel Oliveira and others.

"I was just truly surprised and it was comforting and overwhelming to feel you were not alone going through this."