Jason Day (with club), Charley Hoffman (back) and Sepp Straka (blue cap) on Sunday.
The Golf Channel
Charley Hoffman’s first ball? He was convicted early, without question.
But he asked one in his second.
WILL Jason’s day AND Sepp Straka Thinking of walking up to about 175 meters or so and checking?
It all made for intriguing theater on Sunday during the PGA Tour’s final round American Express event. There were two water balls off the tee Hoffman in 208-yard, par-3 13 in Pete Dye Stadium Course. There was back and forth. There was the question of the rules – which likely put Hoffman’s fate in the hands of his partners. There was an answer.
Starting the hole, Hoffman was tied for second, three back of Straka, before two-putting his ball into the water that runs the length of the left side of the hole. He fell a few feet forward and tried again, before sailing to the left and back into the water.
But he did it maybe step over a small piece of turf that jutted out from the water – and it was also close to the green?
If he was, he could fall there. Had he been, he would have avoided hitting a third ball from where he had already bowled two.
Hoffman spoke to his caddy. Andy Barnes. He talked to Day and Straka, his playing partners. Golf Channel microphones captured part of the conversation.
Hoffman said, talking about his ball: “Pull it.”
Said Day: “Yes, it pulled. Like on earth …”
Said Hoffman: “It landed a little too far…”
Dita said: “Like the wall (that separates the water from the hole). …”
Said Hoffman: “I’m not going to do anything without saying OK.”
Straka said: “I am 75 percent sure that it has passed.”
Which, of course, is not 100.
So Hoffman asked:
“I think we should be sure that it has passed. … You guys want to come up and have a look?”
Straka said they would.
The move would speed up the game – if Hoffman joined them and it was determined that his ball had not passed, he would have to close back to where he had previously hit. There was also a high degree of trust involved – both Day and Straka will likely determine Hoffman’s fate alone, while also thinking about their next shots from the green. Calling for safety from his playing partners — rather than making the call himself — drew praise from the Golf Channel analyst Johnson Wagner.
Straka and Day stepped up. They looked around. Day returned to Hoffman.
Hoffman gave a thumbs up and walked up.
Wagner said on the air: “That’s a big break, otherwise he’s going to hit the same shot a third time.”
Said the analyst in the course Billy Ray Brown: “Jason and Sepp decided that there is a small contour just to the left of the green that sticks out a bit. I think it went through there before entering the water. And that’s just a little short and left of the putting surface.”
From the fairway, Hoffman took a two-club-length drop, which put him on the green, and he suspected a triple bogey. Five holes later, he carded a one-under 71 and finished tied for fifth.
“Once your playing partners put that on you,” Brown said of the drop, “it removes any doubt.”
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