Lee Hodges made one of the more dramatic putts you’ll ever see on Saturday at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
At first, his 16-footer on the 17th hole seemed to start as a pretty straightforward uphill par putt.
The ball started right and curled back towards the cup, eventually settling just on top of it. And then the wait began. And continued. On and on and on. His playing partner, Jordan Spieth, insisted the ball was going to drop.
Eventually, he was right, after a 35-second pause, gravity took hold and the ball tumbled in on its own.
The TV commentators compared it to Tiger Woods’ famous birdie chip-in at the 16th hole of Augusta during the 2005 Masters. There are a few key differences between the two:
A. The shot helped Woods win the Masters, while Hodges is well out of contention at the PGA Championship
B. Woods’ ball only paused above the hole for about 2 seconds
That second fact was actually very key, because there’s a USGA rule that limits the amount of time a player can wait for a ball that settles just outside the cup.
Rule 13.3 states:
If any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole:
The player is allowed a reasonable time to reach the hole and ten more seconds to wait to see whether the ball will fall into the hole.
And the rule goes onto say that if the ball falls in after 10 seconds has elapsed, it will result in a penalty:
If the ball then falls into the hole before it is played, the player has holed out with the previous stroke, but can one penalty stroke added to the score for the hole.
After the round, Hodges had his score updated and his par on 17 became a bogey. Tough break, considering he’s now 10-over through three rounds and 15 shots behind the leaders. He’s ranked 143rd in the world and this week marks his first cut at a major. One penalty stroke wasn’t going to change the outcome of the event.
Alas, golf loves its obscure rules.