Golf has a lot of rules, but if you play or officiate the game for a living, it would be wise to know all of them. On Friday we were greeted to yet another controversial ruling. This one occurred during the second round of the European Tour’s BMW International Open when Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen’s ball suddenly rolled back into the water while he was eyeing his next shot.
Olesen hit his approach on the par-4 fourth hole into a steep bank and it trickled into the pond guarding the front of the green. After two failed drops, he placed the ball per the normal procedure. He then walked toward the green, only to watch his ball roll back into the water again.
The referee with the group told Olesen there was no penalty and he proceeded to place the ball again and get up and down for bogey. However, soon after he was informed by Chief referee Andy McFee that the official was wrong. Olesen was assessed a one-stroke penalty since they deemed his ball at rest, meaning it was in play, and there was no outside agency that caused his ball to move.
However, according to Olesen, the ball was still moving ever so slightly even when we made his way to the green. As you can tell by his reaction, he was not pleased with the situation.
Here is Andy McFee attempting to clear up the incident.
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