Freddy Schott rose to 8 feet and about 5 seconds later, he reached out. He was your DP World Tour’s winner Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship.
Wait.
How?
After all, the tournament in Royal Golf Club it was neither a pitching event nor a pitching competition like the ones you have with your friends. The event was stroke play. It was played on a course of 7,347 meters.
So what gives?
At play here was a rarely used rule. And a professional all over the map.
It all happened on the second hole of a playoff Sunday. On the first hole, Schott AND Calum Hill parred, while Patrick Reed bogeyed, and DP World Tour’s newest full-time pro was performed while Schott and Hill played. Hill then fought back. Hitting first, the Scot hooked his ball into the driving range and out of bounds, and his third shot found the rough first cut on the left side of the hole. More trouble followed. On the fourth shot, he dropped his iron on the ground behind him. His ball had sailed right – and off the video board just short of the green.
“Hosel racket,” said an announcer on the Golf Channel broadcast. “Oh god, this is going to sting.”
“A professional golfer’s nightmare,” said another announcer.
Indeed. After one drop, he was now hitting six. Schott, meanwhile, hit the right side of the fairway with his tee shot, and the German’s second shot ended up roughly right of the green. At this point, reporters began to wonder: Could Hill accept?
“I don’t think he’s allowed,” said the first announcer.
“I think you’re right,” said the second announcer. “I think you should take all the misery on board, let it go and knock it out.”
Under the Rules of Golf, under the Commission’s Procedures, however, there is an exit. An omission is allowed. Procedure 7a (1) reads as follows:
“In a play-off between two players, if one of them is disqualified or concedes defeat, it is not necessary for the other player to complete the playoff hole or holes to be declared the winner.”
And this is what was declared.
After Hill’s sixth shot found the green and Schott got up to 8 feet, Hill called it quits and the tournament was over. The players clapped hands and hugged. Rarely has a stroke-play tournament ended this way, but it can.
“It looks like it’s been accepted,” said a Golf Channel spokesperson.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before.”
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