Car flips onto golf course

A Ford Mustang's driver suffered what appeared to be life-threatening injuries Tuesday evening when he lost control on the southbound 73 Freeway, collided with another car, and careened onto the Newport Beach Golf Course, authorities said.

The blue car, which was exiting the freeway at Irvine Avenue/Campus Drive onto Bristol Street, rolled over at least once and caught fire near the 17th hole, California Highway Patrol Officer S.M. Moorhouse said.

The car came to rest upside down with the roof essentially crushed. Glass and pieces of the Mustang's bumper were strewn across the grass, and the car's underside was spackled white from where firefighters extinguished the small blaze.

The driver was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, Newport Beach firefighters said. There was no information about the condition of the passenger in the car.

The Mustang's driver was traveling at a high rate of speed toward the Irvine Avenue/Bristol Street intersection when his car collided with a Ford Taurus and the curb opposite the golf course, Moorhouse said. The driver of the Taurus escaped without injury.

The Mustang hit the Taurus' passenger side, popping its front tire.

"I'm a bit overcome right now," said the visibly shaken driver of the Taurus, who declined to identify himself, as he gazed at the gnarled Mustang. "Nobody deserves this."