This has got to be come kind of record. Ryuji Imada was tagged with 26 penalty strokes after failing to carefully read the rules regarding lift-clean-place.
With soft conditions at the Mission Hills tournament in China, players were permitted to lift, clean and place their balls. Under PGA Tour rules, that means putting the ball back within one club length. Unfortunately for Imada, under European and Asian rules, the distance is one scorecard. Imada found out about the rule on the 12th hole, and reported it to officials after the round. He didn’t know how many times, exactly, he had erred, but guessed it was 13. Thus, he was assessed with 26 strokes.
“I am an idiot,” Imada said.
Between this and the bunker incident with Dustin Johnson in the PGA Championship, you’d think players would learn to read the local rules.
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I am an idiot. I didn’t know I got a clublength. I usually put it within a scorecard.