Richie Willis has defied the odds in the most extraordinary way. Given just a 10% chance of survival after a devastating lorry accident on the old Severn Bridge, the Welshman is now preparing to take on the world's best disability golfers at the G4D Open at Celtic Manor.
Seventeen years after looking down to see his leg torn off and his arm severely damaged, the 68-year-old from Ringland, Newport, will strike the first tee shot on Friday. For Willis, simply being in the field is nothing short of remarkable.
The G4D Open is one of golf's premier events for players with disabilities, bringing together elite competitors from around the globe. But Willis's journey to the starting line is a story of sheer grit and determination.
It was December 22, 1999, when a freak gust of wind sent the articulated lorry Willis was driving onto its side and into the central reservation on his way home to Wales. "I remember it all like it was yesterday," he recalls. "After the impact I was on my back looking up thinking 'I've got away with this'. Then I lifted my head up and my leg was completely gone."
In the ambulance, paramedics watched his blood pressure drop. The worst injury, it turned out, wasn't his leg or arm—it was a lacerated liver. "I didn't realise they had me on the table and they had 40 pints of blood to keep me going," Willis says. "They came to me afterwards and said they had given me a 10 per cent chance. They said obviously you wanted to live and that's why you are still here."
Willis spent five grueling months in hospital. But barely a year after being allowed home, he was back holding a golf club—a testament to his unbreakable spirit.
Golf wasn't always part of his life. Willis took up the sport at 35, after retiring from a semi-professional football career that included a stint at Newport County AFC. Before the accident, his handicap sat at 11. Remarkably, he now plays off six. "I am really proud of that," he says with a smile. "Golf has meant everything to me."
As he steps onto the first tee at Celtic Manor, Willis won't just be competing against the world's best—he'll be proving that no obstacle is too great when you have the heart of a champion.