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Rickie Fowler shanks out-of-bounds and is then penalised for illegal drop in Mexico

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Rickie Fowler endured a horror start to his second round in Mexico, shanking his approach out-of-bounds before being penalised for an illegal, shoulder-height drop

Rickie Fowler endured a difficult start to his second round at the WGC-Mexico Championship and became the first high-profile player to be penalised for an illegal drop.

Fowler's opening tee shot settled in a tricky lie in the rough to the right of the 10th fairway, and he then suffered the indignity of a shank with his second, his ball sailing over the trees and off the premises.

After collecting another ball from his caddie, Fowler instinctively took his resulting penalty drop from shoulder height before knocking his fourth shot onto the green and two-putting for what he thought was a double-bogey six.

Bryson boils over
Bryson boils over

Bryson DeChambeau has apologised for his angry outburst caught on the Sky cameras on day one

However, his score was soon adjusted to a seven due to his breach of the controversial new rule introduced at the start of the year, which states that all drops must be taken from knee height.

The shank followed by the one-shot penalty saw the Phoenix Open champion slip to three over for the tournament and 11 shots adrift of overnight leader Rory McIlroy, although Fowler did produce a positive response with birdies on each of the next two holes.

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Fowler said after the round: "It's on me. I took the shot, it was no big deal.

"But I think with the new rules that have been put in place, it's not doing any favours for our sport."

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He called the knee-length drop a "terrible" change, adding: "I definitely think it will get changed.

"I haven't heard many of the guys say that the drop from the knee has been a good thing, or that it looks good."

Watch the video above to see Fowler's unfortunate start to day two in Mexico. Live coverage of the first WGC event of the year continues throughout the weekend on Sky Sports Golf.

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