Shaun Norris’ right-foot strike, to Norris’ credit, looked pure.
Unfortunately for him, he was playing golf, not soccer.
The kick, along with the bizarre rules situation that followed, came during Sunday’s final round of the DP World Tour’s Nexo Championship, while Norris readied to play his second shot on the 382-yard, par-4 5th hole at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. There, while tied for the lead, Norris approached his ball in the fairway, then after a few seconds, took two steps backward.
And booted away a replaced divot.
That was a no-no under rule 8.1a (3) of the rules of golf, and about an hour later, Norris’ four on the hole was changed to a six. The rule addresses playing the course as you find it, and one action that is not allowed is “removing or pressing down divots that have already been replaced or other cut turf that is already in place.”
Norris appeared to learn of the infraction four holes later. Rules official Simon Higginbottom met him after he hit his tee shot on the 9th hole, then, after Norris hit his second shot, Norris appeared to replay to Higginbottom what had happened on the 5th hole. Higginbottom, meanwhile, was holding a cellphone.
Golf Channel viewers then learned on Norris’ 10th hole that he was penalized. At that point, the infraction dropped him from a tie for the lead to a tie for third.
Said one announcer on Golf Channel: “You saw the divot there that’s under his feet. And unfortunately for him, he’s now moved it out of the way. But it was a replaced divot. And therefore he’s changed his stance over the golf ball and been hit with a two-shot penalty. I don’t think he was intending to break the rule in any shape or form.”
Said another announcer: “Yeah, I agree with that. It’s just one of those situations, isn’t it.”
From there, Norris shot two-over on the back nine on his way to a four-over 76. He tied for seventh, finishing six strokes back of winner Scott Jamieson.
Notably, this is the second time in the past month where rule 8.1 has been in play. At the Open Championship, Bryson DeChambeau was docked a pair of strokes for his actions to the left of the 5th hole at Royal Birkdale.
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