The golf game was full of strange rule situations, and audiences saw a rare ruling in real time at Saturday’s Sanderson Farm Championship.
On the Jackson Country Club’s par 15-hole, tournament contenders Garrick Higgo and Eric Cole hit their drive into the green space bunker on the front right. When they arrived at the second shot, they found their balls sitting on the beach. What would you do in this case? Even players need to go a wide range of directions from the on-site rules officials.
According to the message conveyed on the broadcast, Shigggo was the first to play. His ball left a track in the bunker before resting. Cole then hit his tee to the same place, and Cole’s ball follows Shigggo’s track, pushing Shigggo’s ball into a more buried lie before settling on the side.
Rules officials directed Higgo to play first, so Cole was able to mark his ball with a T-shirt and then move it to a club length to the side so that Tee would not interfere with Higgo’s shot.
As Higgo’s ball was moved by Cole’s shot, Higgo took the ball as much as possible to replace his ball’s original final position – basically where Cole’s ball rests. Once Higgo shot, the cover could be thrown away, Cole’s ball could be replaced, and he could hit the second shot. No player evaluates any fines.
“My opposite [the bunker situation on 15] Higgo said after his round. “I was playing with Brian Gay when I was 18 years old and he hit it in the green bunker and I hit him in his stadium mark, which is the opposite, I had to play that because that’s because I’ve hit that. It’s me hitting the first thing I did, so I obviously have the right to lie.”
Garrick Higgo ranks 15th in Sanderson Farms 5-foot bird
For Higgo, the ruling caused zero interruption to his game. He shot the bunker to five feet and pulled the putter out. Cole followed closely by his own bunker shooting to 12 feet but missed the birdie putt to settle down par. Higggo is currently entering the final round with two strokes.
