It’s not often golf’s rules give you the chance to have another go. Perhaps that’s why Jesper Parnevik missed out on the opportunity to take a mulligan during the final round of the PGA Tour Champions’ SAS Championship on Sunday – and paid the penalty.
The Swede fell foul of one of golf’s more bizarre regulations but the circumstances that led to it were just as ridiculous.
Parnevik was dealing with a short bogey putt at the par-3 3rd at Prestonwood CC, in North Carolina, when the ball lipped out of the hole and struck his foot.
He probably thought nothing of it and tapped in for what be believed was a double-bogey five.
Unfortunately, his score was about to get a bit worse.
Parnevik had fallen foul of Rule 11.1, which covers a ball in motion that accidentally hits a person or outside influence.
Now, usually, there is no penalty when this happens and the player is forced to accept the result – whether that is positive or negative.
Exception 2, though, says when a ball played from a putting green accidentally hits any person, animal or movable obstruction on the putting green “the stroke does not count and the original ball or another ball must be replaced on its original spot”.
Parnevik clearly didn’t do this – as he putted in – and he ended up having to take a treble-bogey six.
Why? So the first putt doesn’t count and he should have replaced it. The second – the tap in – does but because he has now played a ball from a wrong place he picks up the general penalty, which is two strokes.
It might have stumped rules officials on the spot – a Reuters report said onsite officials phoned the USGA for clarification – but the more observant of you will have seen this rule in action already this season.
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Paul Casey nearly came a cropper at the Porsche European Open when video footage showed his ball had rolled over a moving insect as it dropped into the hole.
The Englishman avoided a penalty because he wasn’t aware of the incident – a defence that, unfortunately, was unavailable to Parnevik.
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