Video review saves major champ from penalty after embedded-ball confusion

Wyndham Clark vaulted up the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard on Thursday, but embedded-ball confusion almost derailed the start of his Friday round.

Clark shot a five-under 67 on Thursday at Bay Hill, which gave him a two-stroke lead over a group at three under. He then started his second round early, teeing off on the 1st hole at 10:05 a.m ET.

Clark birdied the 1st and parred the 2nd. He then arrived to the par-4 3rd and hit his tee ball, which bounced a couple of times, got a little roll and came to rest in the fairway. That’s when ESPN+ cameras tuned in to find Clark with a tee in the ground, looking like he was taking embedded ball relief.

That’s where the confusion started, because from the camera angles available, it was hard to tell if Clark’s ball landed in his own pitch mark or a different one. If it was his, he would be eligible for free relief. If it was someone else’s, he would not be. And if he took relief when he wasn’t supposed to, he would be penalized for it.

The broadcast brought in Rich Pierson, the PGA Tour’s director of rules and video, to explain the situation.

“Wyndham’s ball did not embed,” Pierson said. “His ball bounced and it rolled into somebody else’s pitch mark.”

“So you can still get relief from that obviously then?” Pierson was asked by the broadcast team, as Clark stood over a ball after taking free relief.

“I did not see that he took relief from that,” Pierson said. “He would not be allowed relief from someone else’s pitch mark.”

“So the lie we’re seeing right now from Wyndham was different than the one I guess where his ball came to rest?”

“That’s correct,” Pierson said.

Was Clark destined for a retroactive penalty? Based on the conversation above, it seemed likely. But six holes later, Pierson returned to the broadcast to add clarity.

“Using television and our ShotLink cameras, we were able to determine that it did end up in its original pitch arm,” Pierson said. “Therefore there would be no penalty.”

Clark made the turn in one under for the day, with eight straight pars following his opening-hole birdie. You catch watch the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational from 2-6 p.m. ET on Friday on Golf Channel.