Jon Rahm hit with penalty after bizarre blunder

Jon Rahm’s bid to win the BMW Championship hit a speed bump on Saturday after the world No.2 made a truly bizarre blunder.

Playing the third round at Olympia Fields in the second of the three FedEx Cup Playoffs, Rahm picked up his ball on the fifth green – after forgetting to mark it first. 

The lapse in concentration after hitting his approach to around 45 feet cost the Spaniard a one-shot penalty, turning what should have been a five-under 65 into a four-under 66 instead.

Afterwards, the 25-year-old admitted to being embarrassed by the blunder.

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“I was holding my marker in my pocket, and for some reason I just picked up the ball thinking I marked it already,” he said. 

“I really can’t give you an explanation. It’s one of those things that happen in golf. I never thought it would happen in my professional career, but here we are.”

Despite that faux-pas early in his round, Rahm rallied to muscle his way into contention for the title heading into Sunday.

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“I’m proud of being able to maintain my composure afterwards,” he added. “I think the most important shot of the round was that second putt, the six-footer for bogey. Technically it helped out a lot. I was able to tell myself I was one-under par through five holes. It’s not easy; the first few holes aren’t playing that easy today. Just more so proud that I was able to pull it off afterwards.

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“I’ve seen it happen to people before in instances where even in amateur golf where you’ve played maybe five events with lift, clean and place and you go somewhere and it’s [not] and you do it. I’ve seen things like that happen many, many times. Again, we don’t see those on the PGA Tour and usually it’s not followed by a 66 on this golf course.

“I just hope I don’t lose by one. I’m just going to say that. And if I do, well, very well my fault. It’s as simple as that.”