Adam Scott says it was “such a stupid thing to do”.
He said he had never done it before in his career.
He was also wondering what-if.
Scott had finished his Cadillac Championship third round on Saturday, but a moment on Thursday lasted. Then, hard left on Doral’s 582-yard, par-5 8th hole, Scott hit his second shot — then retired after learning that he hit the wrong ballwhich is a no-no. From there, Scott took a two-stroke penalty, played his original ball and finished the hole with a seven-under.
Interestingly, the damage could have been significantly greater. Faulty balls are dealt with in rule 6.3c of the Rules of Golf, which it reads this way:
“In stroke play, the player must correct the error by continuing to play the original ball as it stands or by taking relief under the Rules: The stroke made with the wrong ball and any other strokes before the error is corrected (including strokes made and any penalty strokes from playing the ball only) do not count or make up the last stroke, unless the player makes the last stroke. hole of the round, before returns his or her grade, the player is disqualified.”
After an 8 on Thursday, Scott went on to shoot a four-over 76, then shot a 71 during Friday’s second round. On Saturday, he shot a bogey-free 66, and afterward, a reporter asked Scott how he was able to recover from the errant putt sequence two days earlier.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s such a stupid thing to do,” he said. “I think it’s the first time I’ve ever done it in my career. It’s probably one of those things that everybody ends up doing once. But a strange set of circumstances that caused me to not check it, which I think I’ve done a thousand times.
“To get two bumps there was, it’s tough, especially when you sit here now at the weekend and you think if you’re top two, you’d do really well in the tournament.”
Then he looked at things with optimism.
“But golf can be cruel sometimes, and I’ve been through a lot of other tough things on the course, and you just have to get on with it and do the best you can,” Scott said.
“Luckily, it was like the 8th hole and I had the rest of the day to try and salvage something from it.”
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