Matthew Baldwin during last year’s ISPS Handa World Invitational.
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Matt Baldwin, at the crime scene, says he laughed. A day later, as he confesses, he laughs again.
Golf, after all, is a funny game, and tee shots that comically go between your legs and almost land in the water behind you are funny shots.
Wait, what?
Yes, it’s true, although observers may have made one on Thursday if they had studied Baldwin results during the first round of the British Masters. Hole 1 in the belfry was clear; a pair Hole 2 saw a birdie. Hole 3, another par. Then came hole 4, a 438-yard par-4, with trees and bunkers guarding the fairway on both sides, some water on the right, some water in front of the green and some water on the left and behind the tee box is out of play – until your ball ends up like this, according to the online DP World Tour leaderboard:
“Shot 1: 8 yards, rough
445 yds to pin”
But how?? Those who tag along with Baldwin may have seen. But most people were likely in the dark, and the DP World Tour social media gang demanded answers. They found Baldwin at the range, and on Friday they shared a video.
This was his summary:
“Yeah, that’s how I got to the fourth tee yesterday and it’s simple — driver in the middle of the hole, obviously if you can get down the middle,” Baldwin began.
“I got to the top of my swing, it felt like a little crack in maybe the glue or the head, so I tried to stop, the momentum carried me forward and I just cut the ball so much here (here, he motioned to the bottom of the bottom of the club) and it went through my legs and almost into the water hazard down behind me. So I think it went about 8 meters in total. So yeah, it was interesting.
“I laughed instantly just because I assumed that because I had tried to stop I would have been able to hook it back up and play the hole, but it turned out I made contact with the ball, it was actually a putt and I had to play the game my next from a yard in front of the marker, from roughness.”
Let’s unpack this.
We love that not only did the 38-year-old Englishman share it, but he seemed to enjoy doing it. We’ve all been there, too, in some shape or form.
But what about his opinion on the rule?
of definition of “hit” it helps. It reads in part: “The forward movement of the club made to hit the ball. But a stroke is not made if the player: Decides on landing not to hit the ball and avoids by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball or, if unable to stop, by deliberately missing the ball; accidentally hits the ball when taking a practice swing or preparing to make a shot. (In particular, practice swings are covered here, and Zach Johnson can prove this indelibly.)
Of course, Baldwin still had 445 yards to go. What happened from there?
“The next shot, I had to hit a hybrid 4-iron that went about 180 yards,” he said in the DP World Tour video, “and I hit the 6-iron down just short of the hole, got it up to about 10 feet and hit it for an easy bogey.”
The story gets better.
Baldwin played at even par from there through the first round, then shot a four-under 68 during Friday’s second round, and he’ll start Saturday at even par on 14th and six shots off the lead. .
