Rose makes ultimate golf mistake that wasn't his fault - and gets penalty
The new PGA Tour season is only a few days old and already it has delivered a truly bizarre moment involving Ryder Cup hero Justin Rose.
The 43-year-old is among the 59-strong field at The Sentry in Hawaii, with a $20 million (£15.8m) purse on the line, but his chances were dealt a massive blow on the opening day when he hit a playing partner's ball rather than his own.
Rose, part of Europe's victorious Ryder Cup team in October, was grouped with Taylor Moore and Andrew Putnam in Kapalua and was one-over-par heading to the 537-yard par-four seventh. The trio would have been delighted with how it looked from the tee box after teeing off, all finding the short grass.
According to data from the PGA Tour website, Rose's shot went the furthest at 359 yards, settling down in the right half of the fairway, while Moore was on a similar line but 37 yards shorter. Putnam's 331-yard strike hit the centre of the fairway.
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Everything seemed normal when Rose took his approach shot and landed the ball safely on the dancefloor. But then Golf Channel's coverage showed Rose with his hands on his head with Moore looking towards him.
It soon became clear that Rose had hit the American's ball and not his own, with microphones on course capturing the moment Moore said: "Sorry, dude." Rose had been playing a ball with "2" marked on it throughout the opening six holes and Moore had not informed his playing partners he had changed ball during the round, meaning he was playing with a "2" marking as well.
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Taylor Moore was left apologising to Rose when the infringement came to light.Thus, the confusion. After all, the majority of tour players play a select few models of golf ball, predominantly the variants of the Titleist Pro V1 and the TaylorMade TP5. So maybe it is a surprise things like this don't happen more often, with MacKenzie Hughes' penalty at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open the most recent infringement on tour.
Rose was handed a two-stroke penalty for the infringement, which violated Rule 6.3c. The Englishman handled the situation fittingly for a seasoned veteran, addressing the matter with rules officials immediately. Had the infringement not been noticed by Rose or his playing partners until the completion of the hole, he would have been disqualified.
In the end, he left the seventh with a double bogey six, making a par four with his own ball before the penalty was added. Moore's ball was replaced adjacent to where his tee shot landed to ensure he had a near identical lie and he got down in four for the par. He was not penalised.
“Very unfortunate situation," rules official Mark Dusbabek told Golf Channel. "Justin Rose had to take a two-stroke penalty. Getting the ball back into play for Taylor is the issue. The lie was altered once he played that shot. So Taylor is allowed to have a clean lie like he normally would’ve had there and was able to place his ball in the nearest, most similar lie.”
Rose did not let the moment overwhelm him, responding well to claw back the lost shots and card a two-under-par round of 71. Heading into day three, he is tied for 52nd at six-under. Scottie Scheffler leads the way at 16-under par, one shot clear of Tyrrell Hatton, Brendon Todd and Sungjae Im.
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