Xander Schauffele was blocked by a tree.
But he apparently would not be denied by a rules official.
In the end during Saturday’s third round of the WM Phoenix Open, Schauffele birdied the par-5 13th at TPC Scottsdale, and he will start Sunday’s final round four shots back of leader Scottie Scheffler. And a “second opinion” played a part.
“Just turned six into four,” analyst Frank Nobilo said during the CBS broadcast.
The sequence began when Schauffele’s tee shot on 13 came to rest maybe a half-foot from the base of a tree. From there, he had no shot forward — he would likely have to play just 90 degrees to the left — but he reportedly had another play.
According to CBS on-course analyst Mark Immelman, Schauffele believed that he would be standing in an animal hole on the shot, and he sought relief. On the broadcast, CBS cameras showed an indentation in the ground between the ball and the tree, along with a couple other indentations in the nearby area.
Schauffele, according to Immelman, then made his case to one official, was denied, called for a second official and won.
“Xander Schauffele had the ball right back up against that palo verde tree, and it was against a root, but he was standing in a burrowing animal hole, so did a whole lot of lobbying with a first rules official and was denied,” Immelman said on the broadcast. “Called in a second opinion and not only got relief, and a swing and a shot.”
“That’s a massive break,” Nobilo said “… Take anything after that. Second shot being right that tree could be looking at five, six.”
In the rules book, animal holes are covered under Rule 16.1a. It states: “Interference exists when any one of these is true: The player’s ball touches or is in or on an abnormal course condition; an abnormal course condition physically interferes with the player’s area of intended stance or area of intended swing.”
After he was given relief, Schauffele hit about a yard to the left of where his ball had been. From there, with just about 200 yards to the hole, he punched his ball forward, it rolled to the back of the green, and he two-putted for a birdie four.
At the time, that moved him to within a shot of Scheffler, but Schauffele bogeyed 15 and 16, and he finished with a one-under 71.
Notably, as Nobilo also pointed out on the broadcast, the 13th was also the hole where, in 1999, Tiger Woods enlisted a small army to help move a boulder in order to hit a shot.
“My goodness, that is downright robbery,” Immelman said on the broadcast of Schauffele’s birdie.
