Thorbjorn Olesen suffers bizarre penalty at BMW International Open
Saturday 24 June 2017 23:10, UK
Thorbjorn Olesen was furious to be hit with a one-shot penalty after a bizarre incident in the second round of the BMW International Open.
Olesen had already taken a penalty drop after his approach to the fourth green found the water, but he encountered further problems due to the severity of the slope leading down to the hazard.
Under the watchful eye of a rules official, Olesen dropped his ball twice outside the hazard line, and each time his ball rolled back towards the water and was saved by his caddie.
The Dane then had the option of placing the ball, but even that proved tricky and he needed several attempts to find a spot where his ball wouldn't move before striding up to the green to survey the tricky chip ahead of him.
But as he walked back down to his ball, it suddenly rolled back into the drink, and the official with the group declared he could replace the ball in the same area with no further penalty.
However, Olesen was then approached by senior referee Andy McFee a couple of holes later and told that, as his ball was officially "in play", he would be penalised another shot which left him flirting with the halfway cut.
"It was a very steep slope and almost impossible to find a spot," said Olesen after signing for a 74 which proved enough to get him in for the weekend. "I tried like 10 times and then in the end, me and Ernie Els thought we found a spot.
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"But we could still see it moving around, and I took five steps up to the green and it rolled back in the hazard. Obviously we called a rules official over, and obviously he didn't know the rules, and then they ended up giving me a one-stroke penalty. I still don't agree with it but it is what it is.
"It's especially annoying it comes after a couple of holes because the rules official didn't get it right, so that makes it a little bit worse."
Watch the video above to see Olesen's bizarre penalty incident at the BMW International Open ...
