Reed Questions ‘One Angle Only’ Two-Stroke Hero World Challenge Penalty

… Albany, Bahamas 

Masters champion, Patrick Reed has questioned the handing out of a two-stroke penalty after he was deemed to have moved sand in taking a practice swing while in a ‘waste’ bunker on day three of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Reed was preparing to play his third shot on the par-5 11th hole but in the process of taking two practice swings, the Texan moved sand from behind the ball.

Though a player is allowed to ground his club in the sand, the moving of sand from behind the ball violated Rule 8.1a (4), which states that a player is not allowed to “remove or press down on sand or loose soil.”

Reed was 12-under par at the time but was forced to take a triple-bogey ‘8’ on route to a two-over par 74 and slip from a share of the second round lead to head into day four at 10-under and in sixth place three shots behind reigning U.S. Open winner, Gary Woodland.

Reed was informed of the violation following his round after viewing a replay with a rules official and was given a two-stroke penalty. He pleaded his case to the official, essentially arguing that a different camera angle would have shown that his club was not directly behind the ball.

However, in viewing the replay it was clear in the eyes of officials.

Of course, it can be argued Reed probably should have been taking his practice outside the bunker.

And when asked if he felt the ruling was unfair, the 2017 Masters winning agreed.

“Right, yes. I mean, it is, it is a big part, intent, but at the same time, when you only have one camera angle, that’s all you can go off of, especially being how much sand’s around here, how many footprints are there,” he said

“It’s a 50/50 battle whenever you’re being assessed or anything like that, especially from that angle.

“I told them it wasn’t an intent and that I was far enough away from the ball, but because they didn’t have another angle, they can’t say anything either way.

“At the end of the day, because of where the camera angle was, they felt like it might have been improving the lie.”



Comments are closed.