The Presidents Cup has had some weird rulings over the years, and India’s Anirban Lahiri added his name to that list when he was told to pick up his ball and sit out a hole during Friday’s foursome (better ball) match against Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell.
Lahiri’s partner, Charl Schwartzel was forced the play the third hole of the match 2-on-1, which he halved with the American duo with matching par fours.
Will Gray of GolfChannel.com had the details on Lahiri’s bizarre ban.
Anirban Lahiri’s return to the Presidents Cup got off to a rocky start when, after pulling his first shot into the water, he was disqualified for one hole for taking an impermissible practice shot out of a bunker.
Lahiri was paired Friday with Charl Schwartzel in a fourball match against Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman. The Indian needed to hole out from a greenside bunker on No. 2 in order to halve the hole, but the shot caught in the fringe and failed to reach the green.
With the hole over and players walking to the next tee, Lahiri pulled his ball back into the bunker and hit another sand shot. That action turned out to be a violation of Rule 7-2, which states that in match-play situations players can only practice between holes on the putting green of the previous hole.
The violation was not addressed until after Lahiri hit his tee shot on the par-4 third hole, when a rules official informed him and assistant captain Ernie Els that Lahiri would not be allowed to finish that hole. It meant Schwartzel was left to play on his own ball.
While the penalty didn’t cost the Internationals a hole in the match, they wound up falling to the American rookies 6&5.
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