Watch: Sam Burns gets no relief after gravity-defying bunker shot

July 15, 2023

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GULLANE, Scotland — Sam Burns would like a word with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein to discuss gravity, the theory of relativity and just how in the world his golf ball managed to defy the law of physics, let alone logic, and stay in the revetted face of a nasty fairway bunker on the 10^th hole during the third round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open.

A wayward tee shot on the par-5 at The Renaissance Club caught the fairway bunker, and the 26-year-old American attempted to hit a long iron and flew it into the steep lip of the bunker. Rather than embed in the sod, it came out of its pitch mark, but rather than roll back in the sand it hung on by a thread.

Burns called for a ruling and a lengthy discussion ensued. Apparently, it embedded into new sod but since it wasn’t in a seam, relief wasn’t granted. From an awkward stance, Burns took a hack at it and couldn’t blast out of the bunker.

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The worst of it was behind him, but when all was said and done, it added up to the dreaded snow man. The triple bogey dropped Burns, who began the day two strokes off the lead at 8 under, to plummet to 42^nd in the tournament.