PGA Tour star finds himself in rare rules kerfuffle – but would you know what to do?
Sam Burns had just crunched one down the middle of the fairway on the 9th hole during the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship when he immediately asked his caddie for another ball.
It was barely visible to viewers watching at home, but the World No 12 had spotted an infringement. His Callaway Chrome Soft X had struck a power line that cuts through the middle of the Country Club of Jackson.
And Burns clearly knows the Rules of Golf, but do you?
Model Local Rule E-11 reads: “If it is known or virtually certain that a player’s ball hit a power line (or tower or a wire or pole supporting a power line) during the play of [specify hole number], the stroke does not count. The player must play a ball without penalty from where the previous stroke was made.”
So there you go. Next time you’re playing a golf course with power lines, keep this in mind.
“Never, no. First time,” he said when asked if that had happened to him before.
“It would have felt better if I would have hit a bad one, but I hit a perfect one,” Burns added. “Then I hit the next one in the left rough, so that kind of stunk, but it is what it is.
“I know they’re there. There’s always a possibility you can hit them, I guess.”
Burns went on to make par en route to a top-30 finish in Mississippi.
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
