[Photo: Ross Parker]
Shaun Norris was strolling along on Sunday, in contention to win his third career European Tour event at the Nexo Championship at Trump International in Scotland. Then, on the fifth hole, golf’s rules jumped up and bit him.
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The 44-year-old from South Africa was about to hit a pitch shot on the par-4 fifth hole when he felt something under his right foot. So he stepped back and off the shot to kick away what was a divot. But it was a replaced divot, not a fresh one that had not been replaced, which is what caused the issue.
Rule 8.1 supports the principle of “play the course as you find it” and specifically mentions what a player can and cannot do. In section (a) under Rule 8.1, the third bullet point says that a player will be handed a two-stroke penalty if he or she is seen “removing or pressing down divots that have already been replaced or other cut turf that is already in place”.
Watch the video above. It’s clear that Norris was not trying to gain an advantage, but yet, while in contention with eventual winner Scott Jamieson and Matthew Jordan, he had to put down a double-bogey 6 on the fifth hole instead of a par.
Norris wound up shooting four-over for the day to drop to a share of seventh place, six shots behind Jamieson – who won by two over Jordan.
