ORLANDO, Fla. – Wyndham Clark will enter Sunday at Bay Hill Club and Lodge just a shot off the lead.
It could’ve been worse.
As Clark was sizing up his second shot out of the dense rough left of the 18th fairway, a television camera zoomed in on Clark’s clubhead addressing the ball. The clip prompted the broadcast to replay the footage, and NBC Sports announcer Dan Hicks then questioned whether the ball had moved or not before a rules official was brought on to provide some clarity.
Mark Dusbabek, the PGA Tour’s lead TV rules and video analyst, said to Hicks, “Dan, that makes my heart flutter as well.”
But Dusbabek also indicated that he did not believe the ball moved.
“For a ball to move, based on the definition, it has to go to a different spot,” Dusbabek said. “It can move, but as long as it comes back to its original spot, it technically hasn’t moved. So, when we watch this tape, it looks like it’s come back to its same spot.”
Hicks then asked a follow-up: “What about improving the lie?”
“I know, Dan, that it looks bad, that maybe he’s trying to improve the area of his intended swing. … It doesn’t look like there’s enough there,” Dusbabek answered. “A player is allowed to ground his club with the weight of the club against the ground, so that basically what he’s doing right there.
“I feel his ball didn’t move, and I feel like he did nothing to affect the stroke.”
Analysts Brad Faxon and Luke Donald then weighed in.
Faxon: “It certainly didn’t look like it was just the weight of the club. … It certainly wasn’t good looking.”
Donald: “He needed to be a little more careful with that club. … He was laying up anyway, so what was the advantage of trying to improve the lie?”
After laying up to about 30 yards, Clark couldn’t get up and down for his par. The closing bogey left him with a 1-under 71 and knocked him back to 8 under through 54 holes of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Afterward, Clark was asked about his approach at the last. He said he wasn’t aware there was a question of whether his ball moved or not until he got into scoring and discussed it with a rules official and his playing competitor, Scottie Scheffler. Ultimately, no penalty was given.
“I’m not cheating or anything like that or trying to improve my lie. … Obviously, they zoom in, and it makes it look worse,” Clark told Eurosport. “We all talked about it. Scottie, the rules official didn’t think it moved. So, fortunately that (a penalty) didn’t happen.”
Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported on Saturday night’s “Golf Central” that video of the incident was sent to everyone on the PGA Tour’s rules committee at Bay Hill. Lewis talked to Ken Tackett, the chief referee of the event, who said the committee agreed that the ball wobbled but returned to its original spot, thus no penalty.
It should also be noted that the ruling takes into consideration the “naked eye” standard. Rule 20.2 states: “If the facts shown on the video could not reasonably have been seen with the naked eye, that video evidence will be disregarded even if it indicates a breach of the rules.”
“Golf Central” analyst Brandel Chamblee said he didn’t need high-definition to see that the ball move inappropriately.
“I would respectfully disagree with the rules officials. I would respectfully disagree with Wyndham Clark. The ball clearly moved. He clearly didn’t ground the club lightly,” said Chamblee, who didn’t question Clark’s intentions, but did wonder aloud (as did fellow analyst Mark Rolfing) why Clark so forcefully grounded his club multiple times behind the ball.
“I don’t need video to see this; I saw it live and I knew the ball moved,” Chamblee added. “I think he should have been penalized.”
