Reeds scrape away

Will he cop a penalty for brushing sand away twice before his shot?

2 strokes

Bad look for him...

Not many good looks for Patrick to start with.

Wow.....Hard to believe that Patrick would ever do anything that was questionable...….

wow

He took his two strokes but only after being shown video of his infractions by officials...and then he still wasn't accountable for his own part in being assessed the penalty strokes.

Seems like it was 2 separate penalties to me, both deliberate.

That was pretty comical to see. He actually thought he'd get away with it

He could've handled how he responded differently... My opinion is just that but I call BS on him appearing to be completely unaware that his club brushed the sand away multiple times. Aren't these guys supposed to possess a seemingly supernatural sense of feel?

Intent is not relevant (despite what the tv talking heads say) with regard to Rule 8.1a.https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=8&subrulenum=1

And, see Rule 1.3c for info on multiple breaches.https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=1

I guess if you're going to be penalized a set amount of strokes then why not go for the gusto and gain as much an advantage as you can...

True! Shoulda went all out and dug a trench

That is what the caddies ant Pinehurst all tell you to do in the the waste areas if you get a bad lie lol.

I find it hard to believe that he didn't know that he did it given the amount of sand that was moved.. twice. But, it's possible that he didn't know, I suppose. The fact that he was looking right down at it, his caddy was right there looking at it, and he knew he had a camera on him makes it hard for me to really sympathise with his "I didn't do anything, but I'll just take my strokes and move on" response to the media.

Ok legit question here.

This was a waste bunker. How is what he did any different than a player picking pinestraw away from behind a ball? Neither improves the lie of the ball, which I absolutely agree would be an infraction. Would he not have been penalized if he had flattened that portion of the sand or scraped it away with his hand?

I'm all for outrage but I want to make sure I understand what I'm outraging about before I do said outrage.

one word..

lose impediments.

Maybe I'm incorrect here, but the way I see it is his actions DIRECTLY improved his ability to PLAY the ball.

I'm not a rules junkie though so my interpretation may be completely delusional.

.....those are two words.

Since it's a waste bunker and not a defined sand bunker, could the grains not be technically defined as loose impediments?

Look, I'm on team 'breach' here. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate in order to be sure of my position.

I did not realize it was a waste area, but this didnt seem any different than the pros that sole their club over and over in the rough behind the ball

Sand categorically isn't a loose impediment and that is stated as such. Now when exactly a grain of sand becomes a pebble is up to interpretation if thats a line you want to pursue in your quest to advocate for the devil.

Solid point, I'd be lost if this were up to me to make a ruling and end up playing 2 balls (not that'd be confident enough to scrape the sand away in the first place.) I'm sure Dave or one of the more informed rules officiants will weigh in and make it so even people like myself can understand this ruling.

After consulting the rulebook, this seems to be the case. Under definitions for loose impediment:

"Sand and loose soil (which is what I would categorize this as) are not loose impediments"

Verdict reached: Burn at the stake!

He's been accused of tamping down rough behind his ball, in the past. Apparently, he was taking different clubs & grounding each behind the ball, pretending to be looking to see how they sit @ address. IDK one way or the other. Just does seems fishy.

On another note, I was unaware that there was any such thing as cheating in golf, based on mid 90's equipment changes & newly slacked rules.

He pushed that much away BOTH times its honestly like he thought it was fine to do so?

They changed the rule this year. He will now be dipped in gravy and locked in a room with a wolverine on angel dust.

I thought the same thing.

I remember reading an article maybe 10 years ago about how that is one of the most common ways pros "bend" the rules. Hit a driver into the rough, take off walking with the driver in hand, get to the ball before the caddie, and "line up" the shot by setting the driver behind the ball to trample the grass before grabbing the iron from the caddie. IDK if it's true.

That’s a Seve move 100 %.

Kevin McCallister 'yikes' dot gif