Brandon Davis, the caddie who was fired on live TV after a penalty cost his man a stroke and $12,000, is taking to social media to tell his side of the story and to explain why a penalty shouldn’t have occurred in the first place.
Davis was fired (and got a headcover thrown at him) by 31-year-old pro Rhein Gibson when Davis’s error cost Gibson a stroke on the final hole of the final round of the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic Wednesday. It dropped Gibson from T2 to third place, a difference of $12,000.
The penalty occurred when Davis fetched Gibson’s second shot out of the water hazard, a violation of Rule 18.2 as the player must give the caddie consent to remove the ball from the hazard, which the rules official said did not happen. But in the time since then Davis has taken to social media to make an impassioned plea on why he did not commit a penalty. He says what he did should be cleared under Decision 26-1/9.
“Here’s exactly what happened,” Davis wrote on Twitter. “Ball was dead underneath two rocks and I told (Gibson) about it and (Gibson) said “f—” and turned around stopped looking and walked back to the bag. The tour official actually found the unhittable ball. I then went over and quickly retrieved it. 100% fact.”
I was his caddy and did nothing wrong, here’s the proof:
Decision 26.1/9
A.There is no penalty under Rule 18-2 if there was no doubt or it was reasonable to assume from the player’s actions or statements that he would make his next stroke from outside the water hazard. https://t.co/W8dQHmAkeK
— Brandon Davis (@bdavistwo) January 25, 2018
Wasn’t even a penalty…. Rules official screwed up, Decision 26.1/9 states that if it’s assumed it won’t be played a caddy can pick it up without the players’ permission without penalty. We’d already picked our drop spot, we weren’t playing it!
— Brandon Davis (@bdavistwo) January 25, 2018
Yes, the ball was unplayable. He walked over and saw it and walked off, the official was right there, we’d already determined where it crossed. So I picked it up and the official called a penalty which was an incorrect ruling. Penalty bumped him from T-2 to 3rd solo.
— Brandon Davis (@bdavistwo) January 25, 2018
But Davis’s version of events wasn’t backed by everyone.
Web Tour rules official Jim Duncan disputes caddie @bdavistwo account of Rhein Gibson penalty. Told @GCMorningDrive after Davis picked up ball, Gibson said “Well I guess I can’t play it now.” Hence no use of Decision 26-1/9.
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) January 25, 2018
Davis also posted a video on YouTube — titled “I Got Fired” — to explain his reasoning and why he should be exonerated.
“This is going to go viral, and it should because I got fired today on national television,” he said. “I did, because I did something that I did not think was wrong, and it wasn’t wrong, but you know what, I have to defend myself, because I believe in the truth.”
You can watch the complete video below.
— Brandon Davis (@bdavistwo) January 25, 2018
