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It’s time for another edition of ‘Golf Rules That Suck’.
The star of today’s show? Aussie pro John Senden.
The two-time PGA Tour winner’s driver shaft snapped in the MIDDLE of his swing as he teed off on the par-5 ninth at during the opening round of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines, causing him to whiff the ball.
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Check out the video below…
Have you ever seen a driver snap mid-swing?
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 29, 2018
Well, now you have...#AusPGA pic.twitter.com/by0fpsMGcm
Here it is from another angle…
Here it is in super slo-mo (wait for the end) pic.twitter.com/UvtCGCpb29
— Ryan Ballengee (@RyanBallengee) November 29, 2018
It looks like the shaft actually broke inside the grip.
Senden did well to escape a nasty injury. What he didn’t escape was the good old rules of golf.
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Despite the shaft snapping, the stroke counted.
Not only that, he was told that he’d have to play his second shot with the ball teed up high… despite not having the use of his driver.
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As you can hear from this clip, Senden’s playing partner, former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, was rather unimpressed.
John Senden's driver snapped in the grip in his backswing. He missed the ball and stabbed himself with a jagged shaft. The rules official says the stroke counts. Geoff Ogilvy's reaction: pic.twitter.com/uGuAqnZjMa
— Ryan Ballengee (@RyanBallengee) November 29, 2018
To Senden’s credit, he managed to get out of the hole with nothing worse than bogey and ultimately signed for a level-par 72.
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