There’s a seemingly never ending list of written and unwritten rules in golf, and this latest video from the LIV Golf tour is really testing how well golfers know the rulebook.
Obviously, the unwritten rules are basically just golf etiquette. You aren’t supposed to walk in someone else’s line on the green, you are supposed to be kind to your playing partners, and the person with the lowest score on the previous whole should have the honors of hitting first on the next.
Then you’ve got actual rules, like having a maximum of 14 clubs in tour bag, re-teeing if you hit it out of bounds, and up until a couple of years ago, you couldn’t putt with the flagstick in. All that to say that the rulebook of golf is thick and jam-packed with a lot of dumb, minuscule guidelines. However, this viral video is bringing something up that I’m not sure is covered in the expansive book of golf’s proprieties.
During a LIV Golf tournament (yes the league that broke away from the PGA Tour a couple of years ago) in New York, Charles Schwartzel was playing a par 3 that featured a water hazard, and he didn’t play enough club to get over the drink. His shot landed on the green, but then spun off and headed straight for the water.
Crazily enough, as soon as it crossed the hazard line and kerplunked into the pond, a fish (presumably a largemouth bass the way it blew up on the ball) swam up out of nowhere and snatched the golf ball resting in the matted vegetation. If it hadn’t, there’s an outside chance that Schwartzel could have played the shot out of the water. But since the golfer couldn’t find his ball in the hazard, he took a drop in a drop zone and finished out the hole.
If you were wondering, the USGA Rules of Golf state that an animal or creature coming in contact with a ball isn’t a penalty for golfers. Generally, they are able to replace the ball as close to where it was estimated to be prior to the animal getting involved:
“Under Rule 9.6, if an animal moves a stationary ball, there is no penalty. The player must replace the ball on its original spot. If the exact spot is unknown, it must be estimated.”
Unfortunately for Schwartzel, his ball had come to rest in the hazard, and thus wasn’t able to be replaced due to it being a penalty area. Still though… it’s wild to see a bass come up out of the murky water and snatch the ball up just as quickly as it rolled off the green and into the water:
“Have you ever seen anything like this?”
No… I legitimately haven’t seen anything like that.
And neither had many of the social media users that came across this video. They were just as shocked to see a fish steal a golf ball, and made plenty of fishing jokes and observations about the incident:
“Just more proof that bass will eat anything.”
“The guy that catches it in the bass tournament is going to be accused of cheating.”
“His caddy handed him a Zebco 22 for his follow-up shot.”
“He better become Happy Gilmore and go get that ball back out of the fish’s mouth.”
“Play it as it lies.”
“This is why sneaking into a golf course and bass fishing is the most fun you can have.”
“New rule: You have 30 minutes to grab a rod and catch that fish for a free mulligan.”
Would be wildly entertaining to see that.
Just as it never gets old watching this YouTube video (that is now admittedly a bit dated) showing the “Top 10 Animal Encounters on the PGA Tour.” This latest example happened on LIV anyways, so it wouldn’t be eligible to be added to this power ranking.
Check it out:
