(Photo credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images)

Italian golfer Andrea Pavan is hopeful he can return to the DP World Tour after finishing recovery from his three-story fall down an elevator shaft in late February.

Pavan, 37, sustained severe shoulder and multiple vertebrae fractures in the incident, which occurred at his private accommodation in Stellenbosch, South Africa, before he was set to compete in the South African Open.

'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 realized the lift wasn't there I'd already taken a step,' he told BBC Radio 5 Live, recalling the incident.

'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.'

As he recovers at home after undergoing surgery in South Africa, Pavan is optimistic he hasn't played the last professional tournament of his career, although he doesn't yet have a clear timeline to return.

'It's hard to say a precise goal, there's more like steps,' Pavan said. '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 seems 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 (are) 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.'

Pavan has won twice on the DP World Tour, with his most recent championship on tour coming in the 2019 BMW International Open. His last overall win came at the Challenge Tour's D+D Real Czech Challenge in 2023.

--Field Level Media