Woods avoids penalty for double-hit

Slow-motion, high definition television replays showed Woods' club making contact with the ball at least twice as he scooped it out of a bush on the final hole at Albany in the Bahamas.

Woods avoids penalty for double-hit

(Reuters)





Under a rule implemented last year, however, a penalty is not assessed if such an infraction is visible only in slow motion replays.

"In slow motion I did hit it twice but in real time I didn't feel that at all," Woods told reporters after shooting 69 to trail second-round leaders Jon Rahm and Henrik Stenson by eight strokes.

Rules official Mark Russell said the incident had been reviewed and that Woods, who double-bogeyed the hole, was in the clear.

Had the incident occurred before April 2017, Woods would have received a one-stroke penalty.

That was when the game's governing bodies, the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient, changed a rule in response to improvements in video technology that were leading to penalties that in previous eras would have been avoided.

"If the committee concludes that such facts could not reasonably have been seen with the naked eye and the player was not otherwise aware of the potential breach, the player will be deemed not to have breached the rules, even when video technology shows otherwise," the rule said.

From Jan. 1, when major revisions of the rule book will be implemented, there will be no penalty for accidentally hitting a ball more than once on a single stroke.





(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world