Bizarre OB blunders mean double trouble for Thomas Pieters

Thomas Pieters will be sick to death of out of bounds at Royal Liverpool.

The Belgian was the victim of a bizarre rules blunder TWICE during his final round at The Open – thinking his ball had gone out of bounds only to later discover both still within the course boundaries.

On the eighth, Pieters sent his tee shot left and said officials believed it was out of bounds. He said he had to go back to the tee and hit again but the original ball was later found “way up there”.

Having put another ball into play under penalty of stroke-and-distance, he had to abandon his first and made double bogey six.

Then on the final hole, after his second shot found right rough close to the boundary, Pieters didn’t declare a provisional and hit again.

Yet again, though, he’d find his original ball inside the boundary line and have to abandon it.

Rule 18.3b says if you don’t announce a provisional and play a ball from where the previous stroke was made, that ball is in play under penalty of stroke-and-distance.

Pieters eventually holed out for double bogey seven, bringing to an end a miserable 80 which sent him plummeting down the leaderboard. He finished 10-over-par for the championship.

Speaking to NCG’s Matt Coles after the round, Pieters said: “Yeah, just didn’t take provisional. It’s pretty stupid just from my part.

“Same thing on 7 [sic, eight). I hit one left and officials thought it was out of bounds, but actually it was way up there and I had to go back to the tee, so two balls that were inbounds and I had to re-tee it. It is what it is.”

What do you think of Thomas Pieters’ out of bounds calamity? Have you been caught out in similar fashion? Let me know all about your provisional problems with a tweet.

• NOW READ: The Open rules you won’t see at your weekend medal
• NOW READ: How should I announce playing a provisional ball?