Minjee Lee hits her club last Friday on the 11th hole at Pelican Golf Club.
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The golf club-turned-coaching aid proved effective for Minjee Lee.
But it was still a golf club.
And because it was, it led to a rules violation during Saturday’s third round Annika tourwith the news first reported by Goflweek’s Beth Ann Nichols (whose story you can read in full here.). Leetwo-time major winner and 10-time overall winner, had included the club in her bag while playing the first hole at Pelican Golf Club – and her inclusion gave her one club more than the 14 allowed under the rules, leading to a two-stroke penalty for the hole.
Notably, the offense was only two shots. According to Nichols’ story, Lee discovered the club before teeing off on the second hole, and she avoided an extra penalty — although the maximum number of strokes a player can be penalized under the rule is four. (Additional use of the club is written below Rule 4.1b (1) and punishment is described in Rule 4.1b (4).)
From there, Lee golfed three-under over her final 17 holes, finishing with a one-under 69, and on Sunday, she shot a 70. This week, Lee is among the 60 to play in the tournament’s group championship CME, the LPGA’s season-ending event.
Has the violation occurred before? Yes, pros occasionally include extra clubs in their bag, although it seems rare that one is used solely as a swing aid.
The latest well-publicized example of a clubhouse violation came when PGA Tour professional Joel Dahmen played an extra 4-iron during the first three holes of the first round of the Shriners Children’s Open. After the round, the popular described the event in this way:
“Bizarre. Never happened to me before. I travel with 15, 16 clubs. I think most people here act depending on the conditions and courses.
“You know, I’ve been traveling here for a long time and it’s never happened before. I would like to blame Geno (his caddy, Geno Bonnalie). That would be the easy thing to do. It’s not even his fault. I played here on Tuesday and Wednesday. We didn’t see it there. It was a 4 iron extra so I had two 4 irons in the bag.
“Why, I don’t know. I don’t know how it got there. It sucks. I am sorry even in the place where I am. Yeah we got to the 4 tee and I grabbed a water and went to my bag and saw a 4 iron that was in the wrong place and our stuff is always in the right place. It was not in the right place.
“You know, you just want to be so angry and you want to be angry at everything. At the same time, I just had to keep playing golf, and I didn’t do a good job after that.
“It’s hard to refocus. Shooting with a counter if I take away the penalties, which is not very good here today. Frustrating, frustrating, but if you play golf long enough, strange things will happen here.”
Editor’s note: To read the full story from Golfweek’s Nichols, please click here.
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