PGA Championship contender handed penalty for unfamiliar rule break

In a bizarre hold-your-breath moment on moving day at the PGA Championship, Lee Hodges has been hit with a one-shot penalty for holing a putt.

During a brutally challenging third round at Oak Hill, the American was penalised for waiting too long to allow his ball to drop into the hole.

The 27-year-old’s putt from 15ft was hanging agonisingly over the edge of the 17th hole and, after walking to the cup, Hodges waited more than ten seconds.

According to the PGA Championship Rules Committee, 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 then ten seconds to see whether it will drop.

However, in Hodges’ case, the ball was ‘treated as being at rest’ as the time limit expired, despite eventually falling into the hole and drawing a relieved cheer from the galleries.

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Therefore, the putt was ‘holed out’ with the previous stroke, but Hodges received one penalty stroke onto what was already a dampened day on the East Course.

The ruling has sparked controversy on social media with golf fans bemused by his punishment for making a putt.

One account tweeted: “This has to be one of the dumbest rules in sports history. GARBAGE.”

This has to be one of the dumbest rules in sports history.

This did not count and Lee Hodges was given a 1 stroke penalty for waiting more than 10 seconds.

GARBAGE pic.twitter.com/utCVf0N7NB

— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) May 20, 2023

An even par round of 70 got the Korn Ferry Tour winner into the weekend on his PGA Championship debut.

But a five-over-par 75 has left Hodges slipping down the leaderboard on a soggy day in Rochester, New York.

It is the second penalty handed to a player at this week’s PGA Championship, with Cameron Young the first to be penalised.

Young, who missed the cut, was brandished a two-stroke penalty for holing out from the wrong position, as he failed to move his ball marker back into the correct spot.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.