Sometimes the Rules of Golf are just mean. On Sunday, the unthinkable happened to Lexi Thompson during the ANA Inspiration, the year’s first LPGA major. Walking off the 12th hole during the final round while leading by two shots, LPGA officials informed Thompson of an email received from a viewer about a possible rules infraction during the third round on the 17th hole.
After further review, Thompson marked her ball on a one-foot putt, but when she went to replace it, she clearly (and inadvertently) did not put it back in the same spot. The result was a four-stroke penalty; two strokes for breaching USGA Rule 20-7c (playing from a wrong place) and two more for violating Rule 16-1b (returning an incorrect scorecard). In the blink of an eye loop of a DVR, she was suddenly trailing by two shots.
Upon hearing the news, Thompson was flabbergasted. “Is this a joke?” she asked. “This is ridiculous.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Here is an explanation from Dan Maselli, Manager of Rules and Competition for the LPGA Tour, along with the following statement.
Our statement regarding Lexi Thompson penalty. pic.twitter.com/bQrlIFrebQ
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 3, 2017
Even some PGA Tour players shared their thoughts on the matter.
Viewers at home should not be officials wearing stripes. Let’s go @Lexi, win this thing anyway.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) April 3, 2017
Who the F#*k is sitting at home zooming in on that stuff??
— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) April 3, 2017
Fighting through her tears, Thompson birdied the next hole and managed to battle all the way back into a tie for the lead with South Korean So-Yeon Ryu to force a sudden death playoff. Ultimately Ryu made birdie and took home her second major.
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