Adam Scott says it was “a very stupid thing to do.”
He said he had never done that in his career.
He was also thinking about what ifs.
Scott finished Round 3 of the Cadillac Championship on Saturday, but had some time left on Thursday. Scott then hit his second shot from the left rough on Doral’s 582-yard, par-5 eighth hole, but then realized he had hit the wrong ball and retreated. This is a no-no. From there, Scott took a two-stroke penalty, played the original ball, and finished the hole with a double-bogey 7.
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Interestingly, the damage could have been even worse. Wrong balls are treated as follows under Rule 6.3c of the Rules of Golf:
“In stroke play, a player must correct a mistake by playing the original ball as is or by taking relief under the rules. The stroke made with the wrong ball and any further strokes (until that ball is played) until the mistake is corrected. A player is disqualified if he or she does not correct the mistake before making the stroke that starts the next hole or, in the case of the final hole of the round, before returning the scorecard.
After finishing No. 8 on Thursday, Scott shot a 4-over 76, followed by a 71 in Friday’s second round. On Saturday, he shot a bogey-free 66, but afterward a reporter asked Scott how he was able to recover from a series of errant balls two days earlier.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s so stupid,” he said. “I think it’s the first time in my career that I’ve done this. It’s probably one of those things that everyone does at least once. But it was a strange set of circumstances that I didn’t check it, and I think I’ve done it thousands of times.”
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“It’s tough to take two lumps, especially because I’m sitting here this weekend thinking if I get two better, I’ll be able to do well in the tournament.”
Then he looked at things optimistically.
“But golf can be cruel sometimes. I’ve been through a lot of other tough things on the course. You just have to accept it and do your best,” Scott said.
“Fortunately, the situation I had on the eighth hole allowed me to spend the rest of the day trying to get something back from it.”
The post ‘Stupid move’: Adam Scott regrets two-shot rule penalty appeared first on Golf.
