Tommy Fleetwood is one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour, but that didn’t stop fans from calling for him to be penalized at last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge.
Fleetwood finished T4 at Colonial Country Club, one of seven top-five finishes on the season for the Englishman, but he only achieved this because of a long-range putt that dropped on the final hole.
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This putt was met with rapturous applause from the galleries on the 18th, but fans online immediately said Fleetwood should lose his spot in the top five and be awarded a one-shot penalty.
Photo by Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Why fans wanted Tommy Fleetwood to receive a one-shot penalty
Fleetwood’s 30-foot putt, which got him into the top five, had a Hollywood nature to it. The putt crept up to the edge of the hole, and it looked like the Englishman had agonizingly missed his attempt. But after a few seconds of the ball sitting on the cusp of dropping, it eventually fell.
But fans thought that this putt should not have counted, and Fleetwood should have had an extra stroke added to his score. Under the rules of golf, a player has a reasonable time to walk to the hole, and then they have 10 more seconds to see if the ball falls in.
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If the ball falls in after this time, then it’s counted as a hole-out, but a player is given a penalty stroke.
Fans believed that this rule should have applied to Fleetwood, who took an age to walk over to his ball and waited for it to drop. It could be argued that the ball was at rest for more than the allotted time, so Fleetwood should have had a shot added to his score.
This rule has been applied countless times in the past for taking a similar amount of time, so why should it be different for Fleetwood, even though it would have cost him a top 10?
But in reality, he wasn’t given the penalty, and he recorded the 27th top-five PGA Tour finish of his career.
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Players who have been given a one-stroke penalty for waiting too long
Fleetwood might have gotten away with this one at Colonial last year, but other players on the PGA Tour, and in major championships, didn’t get so lucky.
One that sticks in the mind is Lee Hodges at the 2023 PGA Championship. During the third round at Oak Hill, Hodges hit a par putt on the 17th hole that stopped right on the lip.
He walked up and waited for roughly 30 seconds. The ball eventually dropped, but because he exceeded the 10-second limit, his par was turned into a penalty bogey.
A similar thing happened to Si Woo Kim at the 2021 RBC Heritage. Kim’s birdie putt on the third hole rested precariously on the edge of the cup. Along with his playing partner Matt Kuchar, Kim waited for about 42 seconds before the ball finally fell.
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But again, the wait exceeded the allowed time, a one-stroke penalty was added, turning his spectacular birdie into a par. In both cases, even if the ball appears to still be minutely oscillating or moving, the rules strictly deem the ball at rest once the 10 seconds expire.
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