After a solid T12 showing at the U.S. Open at Shinneock last week, Zach Johnson has continued his run of solid play, shooting rounds of 63 and 68 on Thursday and Friday at the Travelers Championship.
Johnson is currently tied for second, one shot behind leader Brian Harman, but were it not for a bit of back luck, Johnson would be tied for the lead heading into round three.
On hole No. 3 (Johnson’s 12th of the day), Johnson’s birdie putt rolled to the edge of the cup and stopped. Johnson waited for a few seconds, then approached the ball to tap it in, only to back off as the ball dropped in the hole for birdie.
Or was it? Unfortunately for Johnson, the ball dropped in just a few seconds too late.
According to Rule 16-2, when a ball overhangs the lip of the hole without falling in, “the player is allowed enough time to reach the hole without unreasonable delay and an additional ten seconds to determine whether the ball is at rest. If by then the ball has not fallen into the hole, it is deemed to be at rest. If the ball subsequently falls into the hole, the player is deemed to have holed out with his last stroke, and must add a penalty stroke to his score for the hole.”
Johnson’s ball fell in somewhere between 16 and 18 seconds after he approached it, according to a tweet by Golf Channel’s Will Gray.
Ruling on Zach on No. 3 is that he took 16-18 seconds waiting for overhanging ball, per rules officials, and therefore made par. If ball fell in within 10 seconds of getting to the hole, it would’ve been a birdie. ZJ trails Harman by 1.
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) June 22, 2018
You can watch the whole unlucky episode play out in the video below.
Interesting situation with Zach Johnson…looks like the ruling is that he took too long (13 seconds) for it to go in, so he makes a par (4) on the hole instead of a birdie (3). #golf #PGATour #TravelersChamp #iowagolf pic.twitter.com/kTi3puP1Tf
— Eric Peyton Golf (@ericpeytongolf) June 22, 2018
