Tour stars caught up in bizarre rules drama at Wentworth
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Two players were involved in rules incidents at the BMW PGA Championship – with very different results. Here’s what happened…
As the old saying goes: you wait ages for a rules drama, and then two come along at once.
This time, it was Matt Fitzpatrick and Marcel Siem in the spotlight at Wentworth, where the 71st playing of the BMW PGA Championship is taking place.
Both incidents happened in the same spot – to the right of Wentworth’s 18th hole – but as it turned out, one benefitted far more from their mixup than the other.
Let’s start with Fitzpatrick.
Well in contention for a 10th DP World Tour title – and a first in its flagship event – the Englishman pushed his tee shot into the trees that run down the right-hand side of the West course’s infamous finisher.
Shortly after hitting a provisional, a siren sounded to stop play as the threat of a thunder and lightning storm loomed.
Before they headed back to the clubhouse, Fitzpatrick’s caddie, Dan Parratt, expressed his concern about finding the original tee shot.
Fitzpatrick explained: “Dan said, ‘What happens if someone goes sniffing around in the bushes and finds your ball and decides to pocket it?’ I thought that was a great point, because there had to be a good chance of that happening.
“So we called over a referee and explained the situation, and asked whether we should look for the ball then, rather than risk it being taken.
“He took us over to the crowd where we reckoned my ball would have landed, and a few people there said they’d seen two young boys dive into the bushes, and come out grinning with a golf ball.
“So we decided the balance of probability was that it was my ball, and that I would take a drop in that spot when we got back.”
Around an hour and a half later, the World No.29 returned to take his drop and finish up with a bogey.
“I made six, but if I’d had to play my provisional ball it could have been worse,” a relieved Fitzpatrick explained. “So those two little thieves who made off with my ball probably saved me a shot!”
Siem’s experience on 18 wasn’t quite as positive, though.
Also ballooning his opening tee shot toward the out of bounds marker, the German opted to put a provisional in play.
But when a spectator found his ball in the penalty area, Siem assumed the right course of action was to play on with the provisional. He was disqualified shortly after.
In an post on his Instagram page, Siem said: “I just want to give you a quick insight into what happened today. I just wanted to let you know I didn’t cheat, I would never do that, so I got disqualified, unfortunately.
“On 18, I pushed my driver to the right, hit a provisional, thinking it’s out of bounds on the right. Never knew that it’s a water hazard on the right. Anyway, I was just about to hit my provisional, so my fourth shot, so to say, and one of the spectators found my ball, my first one. I walked in there, tired of the whole day already, and the ball was underneath a branch, couldn’t chip it out. I said, ‘OK, this is unplayable.’ I picked the ball up, and then just stupidly hit my fourth shot.”
He continued: “I just kept going, made a bogey, then we went into the scoring area, was just about to sign my card, and I just realized something is off here.
“I said, ‘Guys, I don’t think I made a six here, let’s call a referee.’ Mark Clinton came, and I said, ‘Dude, I think I made a mistake here, right? I’m supposed to go back to the 18th tee box and play my third shot, right?’ Because it’s a water hazard, and if I declared as unplayable, I have to go back, and I cannot hit my provisional ball.”
“That was the case, so I was disqualified. It’s very upsetting, but it is what it is.”
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Matt Fitzpatrick was caught up in a bizarre rules drama at the BMW PGA Championship.
