PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Sometimes karma can be a tricky thing. Also, doing the right thing can lead to back-to-back birdies and cuts.
The latter was the case of Englishman Matt Wallace, who received a one-stroke penalty for moving the ball on the par-5 11th on Friday.th A hole on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort.
Matt Wallace of Great Britain lines up his putt on the 15th green during the first round of the 2026 Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida.
Wallace hit his tee shot off the line into a pine tree on the right side of the par-5 fairway, and the ball came to rest on pine straw. Caddy Jamie Lane warned him to be careful and place the club over the ball, but that had little effect on him.
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“There was this one twig sticking out and I think the ball definitely moved as I was wagging, so I had to call the umpire back. I didn’t know if it was my swing or some movement, but I definitely touched it and the ball moved from there. So I had to replace it,” Wallace said.
Wallace was 2 over par at the time and fighting the cut line to win the weekend and get paid for his efforts. It was one of those moments that happens in golf where no one else would have seen the ball move, but Wallace saw it and whistled to himself because that was enough.
“Everyone would like that to happen,” Wallace said. “You’re doing it to protect the rest of the field. You’re doing it for your caddy, you’re doing it for your team, you’re doing it for your family. I’d rather do something like that and miss the cut by one stroke and give it my all for the rest than make it and know something happened.”
He added: “I’m satisfied with the result and it was the right thing to do.”
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Thanks to Lane’s encouragement, Wallace didn’t face a penalty.
“He was like, ‘Let’s make a great par,’ and from there he hit a great shot, made a good chip, made a good putt from 4 or 5 feet,” Wallace said.
“I never thought I would be standing here after that and making the cut,” Wallace said. “But I had good karma and managed to make some birdies.”
Wallace sank a 22-foot birdie putt on the 14th, dropped his approach to 15-6 feet for another birdie, and sank a 27-foot ball on the 17th for a 68 and secured a tee time for the weekend.
“Maybe a little bit of good karma will come my way,” he said.
Sure, it makes sense.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Matt Wallace’s honest penalty brings good karma
