x
Skip to main content
Golf Logo
InsideGolf Join Now  / Log In
‘Absolute BS:’ Pros express frustration with Si Woo Kim putting penalty
SHARE
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share by Email
Golf Logo
  • News
    • Latest
      • News
      • Features
      • Shows
      • PGA Tour Schedule
    • Series
      • Tour Confidential
      • Monday Finish
      • Hot Mic
      • Rogers Report
    • Shows
      • The Scoop
      • Subpar
      • Seen & Heard
  • Instruction
    • Game Improvement
      • Driving
      • Approach Shots
      • Bunker Shots
      • Short Game
      • Putting
      • Rules
      • Fitness
    • Series
      • Top 100 Teachers
      • Rules Guy
      • The Etiquetteist
    • Shows
      • Warming Up
      • Play Smart
      • Short Game Chef
      • Pros Teaching Joes
  • Gear
    • Clubs
      • Drivers
      • Irons
      • Hybrids
      • Fairway Woods
      • Wedges
      • Putters
    • Other Gear
      • Balls
      • Shoes
      • Apparel
      • Golf Accessories
    • Series
      • ClubTest
      • Winner’s Bag
    • Shows
      • Fully Equipped
  • Travel & Lifestyle
    • Travel
      • Course Finder
      • Courses
      • Resorts
    • Lifestyle
      • Accessories
      • Celebrities
      • Food
      • Style
      • Betting Advice
    • Shows
      • Super Secrets
      • Destination Golf
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Clubs
      • Shafts
      • Training Aids
      • Balls
      • Bags
      • Technology
      • Apparel
      • Accessories
      • Our Picks
      • Shop All
    • Collections
      • The GOLF Collection
      • The Birdie Juice Collection
      • The Fully Equipped Collection
      • Shop All
  • Newsletters
    • Sign Up for GOLF’s Newsletters
      • Hot Mic
      • Monday Finish
      • Play Smart
      • Our Picks
      • Top Stories
      • Sign Up for All
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Features
    • Shows
    • PGA Tour Schedule
  • Instruction
    • All Instruction
    • Driving
    • Approach Shots
    • Bunker Shots
    • Short Game
    • Putting
    • Rules
    • Fitness
  • Gear
    • All Gear
    • Drivers
    • Irons
    • Hybrids
    • Fairway Woods
    • Wedges
    • Putters
    • Balls
    • Shoes
    • Apparel
    • Golf Accessories
  • Travel & Lifestyle
    • All Travel
    • All Lifestyle
    • Course Finder
    • Courses
    • Resorts
    • Accessories
    • Celebrities
    • Food
    • Style
    • Betting Advice
  • Series
    • Tour Confidential
    • Monday Finish
    • Hot Mic
    • Rogers Report
    • Rules Guy
    • The Etiquetteist
    • ClubTest
    • Winner’s Bag
  • Shows
    • The Scoop
    • Subpar
    • Seen & Heard
    • Warming Up
    • Play Smart
    • Short Game Chef
    • Pros Teaching Joes
    • Fully Equipped
    • Super Secrets
    • Destination Golf
  • Shop
    • Clubs
    • Shafts
    • Training Aids
    • Balls
    • Bags
    • Technology
    • Apparel
    • Accessories
    • The GOLF Collection
    • The Birdie Juice Collection
    • The Fully Equipped Collection
  • Newsletters
    • Hot Mic
    • Monday Finish
    • Play Smart
    • Top Stories
    • Our Picks
    • Sign Up for All
InsideGolf Join Now  / Log In
InsideGolf

Over $140 of value - Just $39.99

InsideGOLF
News

‘Absolute BS:’ Pros express frustration with Si Woo Kim putting penalty

By: Nick Piastowski
  • Follow on Twitter
April 18, 2021
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share by Email
Si Woo Kim

Si Woo Kim watches on Saturday as his ball falls into the cup on the 2nd hole at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Getty Images

Emiliano Grillo finished his third round Saturday at the RBC Heritage. He signed for a two-under 69 at Harbour Town Golf Links, putting him in Sunday’s second-to-last pairing. A short time later, he logged onto Instagram. A PGA Tour post popped up. 

Grillo typed 10 letters. 

“Absolute BS.”

A ruling about six hours earlier had triggered him. On the 2nd hole, Si Woo Kim putted his ball to within about a tenth of an inch of the hole, he watched over it, and it eventually dropped — after about 55 seconds. The rules, however, allot you just 10, and Kim’s birdie 3 became a par 4 after a penalty.

The incident shone a light on one of golf’s murkier rules. Kim’s playing partner, Matt Kuchar, argued that the ball was still moving, but rules official Stephen Cox said, “in this situation, the rules are modified because you could argue that there comes a point in time that we’ve got to play that golf ball. And that’s why you put that time limit on it.” 

instagram.com/pgatour

Grillo wasn’t alone in his frustration among his fellow pros over it all.

“Does this make sense to anyone else,” Cameron Tringale wrote on the Instagram post, which showed the video of the incident. 

“Another horrible @usga rule!” Charley Hoffman wrote.

“Terrible rule, if it wasn’t moving they wouldn’t have waited. No one would’ve. @usga @therandagolf,” David Lingmerth wrote. 

Reaction wasn’t limited to the pros, either. Swimmer Michael Phelps weighed in. So did football player Brice Butler. And thousands of others over social media — on Sunday afternoon, the Tour’s Instagram post had over 4,200 comments and 100,000 likes, and its Twitter post had over 300 comments, 600 retweets and 3,700 likes by 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Like the pros, most believed the rule was wrong, though it did have its fans. Below we’ve included a sampling of both views:

News
Si Woo Kim
Why Si Woo Kim was assessed rare penalty after making a birdie putt
By: Nick Piastowski

From the “Bad rule!” crowd

“Some of these guys spend more time trying to read a putt than they took waiting for the ball to drop. Crappy ruling.” — Brett Norton on the GOLF.com Facebook account  

“The ruling really was Trash. What is he supposed to do? Hit a moving ball and take a penalty? Also how does one wait the 10 seconds if the ball never came to rest? If and only when the ball comes to a full rest does the 10 second clock start. Kuchar himself even said he saw it continue to move. What an AWFUL call by the PGA and USGA.” — Dave Tufts on the GOLF.com Facebook page  

“Golf is hard enough. Why do we have to think about how to make it more complicated” — Mike Guevara on the GOLF.com Facebook page 

“This rule has never made sense to me. Is the ball still moving? Let it keep moving until it stops! If it stops, play it! It’s not like this happens often enough to meaningfully slow down play. This putt should count” — GOLF.com senior writer Dylan Dethier on Twitter

“This is one of those rules that keep people away from wanting to learn golf. Anyone who plays golf regularly knows this is a BS rule” — @curry23_azbeast on the PGA Tour’s Instagram post 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PGA TOUR (@pgatour)

From the “Good rule!” crowd 

“I’m sure there was 10 seconds in there when it wasn’t moving. Pace of play, can’t wait forever. Tap it in, take your stroke, and move on.” — Erick Schlimmer on the GOLF.com Facebook page 

“You could say “it’s still moving” and wait an hour. Hence they picked the 10secs as part of the rule. That’s exactly why it’s in place.” — @mattosnart on the PGA Tour’s Instagram post, in response to Lingmerth. 

“Wiggling back and forth for a minute from a breeze is not the same as moving from the momentum of the swing. Horrible precedent set of they let people wait until a breeze comes along to do the work they couldn’t.” — @fiddy1smitty on the PGA Tour’s Instagram post, in response to Lingmerth 

“@camtring Yes. Because if you don’t have that rule in theory you could be waiting hours for the putt to drop. Maybe it’s a little harsh but it serves its purpose.” — @jdavey28 on the PGA Tour’s Instagram post, in response to Tringale: 

And then there was the conspiracy theory:

“@camtringyes, pro sports are scripted. Not supposed to make sense,” @richierichf24 wrote on the PGA Tour Instagram’s post, in response to Tringale.

News
Si Woo Kim snaps putter at Masters, forced to putt with 3-wood
By: Dylan Dethier

A few thought only of Danny Noonan. In the movie Caddyshack, the character played by Michael O’Keefe left a putt on the lip, too, only for it to drop after a lengthy wait. (If you’re among the dozen people who haven’t seen it, we won’t spoil how it fell.)

And what about Kim himself? A commenter on the Golf WRX Instagram page wondered that, too. Last week, after all, Kim snapped his putter on the 15th green at the Masters after some putting frustration. What would we possibly do after this?

“After the putt dropped on, @siwookim_official snapped his putter out of principal,” thefern16 wrote.  

“@thefern16 no more snapped club. I’m retired that,” Kim replied.  

“I bet on @patperezgolf if I snapped golf club again I have to pay him 100K,” Kim added on an Instagram story post.  

Latest In News

40 minutes ago

Tour Confidential: Rory vs. Spieth, PGA predictions, old-school Tour stop

2 hours ago

PGA Tour's visit to throwback venue a reminder that game never stands still

3 hours ago

1 scene after Sepp Straka's Truist Championship win perfectly sums up his rise

5 hours ago

Sepp Straka wins Truist Championship after Shane Lowry's 72nd hole collapse

Nick Piastowski

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

  • Author Twitter Account

Related Articles

Instruction
scottie scheffler and sam burns

In odd rules twist, this U.S. player was forced to hit a putt *before* opponent’s approach

By: Alan Bastable
News
Signage displays images of the U.S. and International Teams prior to the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Country Club on September 19, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Who's playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams

By: Jack Hirsh
News
Trevor Immelman poses with the Presidents Cup during the Captains Visit for 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club on September 28, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Trevor Immelman names 5 rookies to finalize International Presidents Cup team

By: Jack Hirsh
News
Tyrrell Hatton, Daniel Berger

'It's not the right thing to do': Pro irked after tee shots hit toward him

By: Nick Piastowski
Gear
Danny Lee Si Woo Kim

Why Danny Lee borrowed his buddy’s clubs and ended up with a Callaway deal

By: Sean Zak
News
Si Woo Kim

Si Woo Kim melts down, dumps five straight shots into the water, makes 13

By: Nick Piastowski
News
sungjae im practices

Why there's a lot on the line for South Korean golfers at the Olympics

By: Zephyr Melton
News
si woo kim and sungjae im

Here’s why two top-50 golfers are skipping The Open Championship

By: Zephyr Melton
News
Lydia Ko

Tour Confidential: Lydia Ko’s breakthrough, the arm-lock putting grip and putting penalties

By: GOLF Editors
Sign up for GOLF's Newsletters
Get the latest news, the hottest instruction tips, new product releases, golf media insider reports and more delivered directly to your inbox. Choose your favorites now.
Sign Up
Categories
  • News
  • Instruction
  • Gear
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
Services
  • Masthead
  • GOLF Media Kit
  • GOLF Magazine Customer Service
  • TERMS OF SERVICE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Opt-out of Ads/Sharing
  • Your Privacy Choices
Social
  • facebook
  • x
  • instagram
  • youtube
Membership
InsideGOLF Logo
More than $140 Value for JUST $39.99

INCLUDES 12 SRIXON Z-STAR XV GOLF BALLS, 1 YR OF GOLF MAGAZINE, $20 FAIRWAY JOCKEY CREDIT - AND MUCH MORE!

LEARN MORE

© 2025 EB Golf Media LLC. An 8AM Golf Affiliated Brand. All Rights Reserved. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy a linked product, GOLF.COM may earn a fee. Pricing may vary.

Go to mobile version