Pro golfer Lexi Thompson was partaking in Saturday’s ANA Inspiration Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif. When she violated a rule by returning a marked ball to the wrong place on the green before putting. Nobody noticed until a TV viewer at home noticed the mistake and informed the golf association a day later via email.
The penalty: 2 points off for misplacing the ball, 2 more for incorrectly marking the scoreboard. Thomson who was leading up until that moment now found herself trailing behind and ultimately losing the tournament due to the mistake, Golf.com reports. On Sunday, officials reviewed the footage, docked the points and then notified Thomson as she was leaving the 12th hole. Thomson, stunned, called the ruling ridiculous, asking “Is this a joke?” and eventually lost in the playoff to So Yeon Ryu.
An LPGA official involved in the ruling stated that he suspects the ball-moving was totally unintentional, and that it made him “sick” to have to punish Thompson for the error.
From Thomson’s Instagram:
