'Controversial Golf Rule'... 'Bradley Rule Mistake'

Last Year's The Players Championship 2R Hole 16

Keegan Bradley (USA, photo) suffered an unfortunate penalty.

It happened during the 2nd round of the PGA Tour's 5th major, The Players Championship (total prize money $20 million), held last March at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. On the 16th hole (par 5), after successfully reaching the green in two shots, he missed an 18-meter eagle putt but still had a 3-meter birdie opportunity left. As he was marking and about to pick up the ball, a sudden gust of wind caused the ball to roll. He picked it up again and putted, finishing with a par.

The rules official decided to impose a "two-stroke penalty for a breach of Rule of Play" on the next hole. The explanation was that "the mark only takes effect after the ball is picked up following marking." The ball remains "in play." If the ball moves at this point, the stroke must be made from where it stopped.

Bradley bowed his head, saying, "None of my playing partners objected." He shot 4-under par in both the 3rd and 4th rounds and finished 5th (9-under par 279). His prize money was $820,000 (about 1.01 billion KRW). Without the two-stroke penalty in the 2nd round, he could have tied for 3rd place (11-under par 277) and earned $1.18 million (about 1.45 billion KRW). Due to a lack of proper knowledge of golf rules, he lost $360,000 (440 million KRW).

Bradley debuted on the PGA Tour in 2011 and is a veteran with five career wins, including a major PGA Championship victory. In October last year, he added another trophy at the Zozo Championship in Japan, his first win in 4 years and 1 month since the BMW Championship in September 2018. He is currently ranked 27th in the world.