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Inside the triple bogey: Why the bunker that gave Gary Woodland a horrible lie wasn’t raked

August 12, 2018

ST. LOUIS — Gary Woodland caught a bad break during the third round of the PGA Championship, which in part led to his triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 10th hole. (And dropped him way down the leaderboard.)

Woodland was in solo second at 10 under when he made the turn at Bellerive, but the trouble started when his second shot into the 10th landed in the green-side bunker. Playing partner Kevin Kisner found the same bunker, and their balls sat just feet from each other. Kisner escaped the sand with little problem, but Woodland blasted out and over the green, landing in another bunker.

It didn’t end there. His next shot rolled across the green again, into the original bunker he started in.

https://twitter.com/BarstoolHubbs/status/1028390593989423104

But to make matter worse, Woodland’s ball landed in the un-raked tracks he and Kisner left behind. He had to play it as it lies, barely got out, and from there chipped on and tapped in for a triple bogey, which plummeted him to seven under.

Gary Woodland's lie on the 10th hole at Bellerive.

So why wasn’t the bunker raked? Well, one of the caddies had to wait until Kisner and Woodland had both hit before raking, but since Woodland skidded his ball directly across the green they decided to wait. If they would have begun raking as Woodland was hitting his second shot from the sand they would have been behind the flag and in his sightline, so as a courtesy they waited to rake. Turns out it was just plain bad luck.

Duane Bock, Kisner’s caddie, took the blame on Twitter on Saturday night.

Woodland played the rest of the round in two under to shoot 71. He’s nine under and three off the lead heading into Sunday.