On the 14th gap on the PNC Sunday, Bernhard Langer took benefit of the foundations en path to a birdie.
NBC
The PNC Championship proved as soon as once more this weekend that it’s a one-of-a-kind occasion amongst nationally televised golf tournaments. Dad and mom competing with their youngsters. Males taking part in with ladies. A 13-year-old within the subject alongside an 89-year-old. 4 units of tees in play. Thirty-six holes. Birdie-fueled dash to the end. Good things all of it.
The PNC’s format is also a differentiator: a two-player scramble, which is a rarity for community TV golf.
In a scramble, every participant hits a tee shot after which selects the higher of the 2 photographs to play subsequent. Similar goes for the third shot, with this sample repeating till a ball has been holed. It’s an ultra-forgiving format, which explains how each Staff Langer and Staff Woods shot 28 underneath over two rounds, and no workforce shot worse than eight underneath; the Langers in the end defeated the Woods’ on the primary playoff gap.
Scrambles are distinctive from conventional golf in a single different essential method: When gamers resolve which photographs they will play, they’re permitted to put their balls inside one club-length of the unique spots. That allowance typically ends in excellent lies within the fairway. Balls that discover hazards, bunkers, tough, pure areas or the perimeter may be picked up and positioned inside a club-length however usually should keep throughout the “identical situation” — i.e., in most scrambles, together with on the PNC, match organizers don’t allow gamers to maneuver a ball from, say, a bunker to the green.
Bettering one’s lie in a type of areas, although? That’s one other matter. There may be nothing within the guidelines that prohibits such an motion, which means gamers are empowered to take away their ball from, say, a dastardly fried-egg lie and place it on a extra manageable lie atop the sand — once more, assuming the brand new spot is inside a club-length of the place the ball initially got here to relaxation.
Simply such a state of affairs performed out on Sunday on the PNC after the Langers — Bernhard and his son, Jason — had performed their tee photographs on the par-5 14th, at which level they had been tied for the lead at 24 underneath with the Woods’. After Jason heeled his drive into the water up the left, the Langers had no alternative however to play Bernhard’s ball, which landed in what appeared to be a bunker on the left facet of the green however was, in actual fact, deemed a pure space, which meant the Langers had been free to make contact with the sand with their observe swings.
When father and son arrived on the ball, they observed one thing: a small clump of sand inside a club-length of their orb. Recognizing that the tiny tower may in impact act as a tee for considered one of their photographs, they collectively determined that, strategically, it might take advantage of sense for his or her greatest ball-striker — Bernhard — to benefit from the foundations break and place his ball upon the mound.
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Jason hit first, from a more difficult lie. He caught a fairway wooden fats and popped up his ball into the center of the green however a great distance out from the inexperienced. Then Bernhard stepped in. Understanding he had the luxurious of basically teeing up his ball and with solely a small lip to hold, he made an aggressive membership choice: driver.
“What do you consider this play?” announcer Dan Hicks mentioned in an incredulous tone on the NBC broadcast.
“I’m loving each second of it, Dan,” mentioned on-course reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay. “I believe he thinks as a result of he can place the ball so properly, he can get numerous membership on the ball right here and get the ball up on the inexperienced.”
Bernhard didn’t fairly attain the inexperienced, however he got here shut. His ball rocketed out and carried roughly 230 yards earlier than settling right into a bunker fronting the inexperienced, an effort Tiger Woods later known as “among the finest photographs I’ve ever seen.” From there, he and Jason received up and down for a birdie 4.
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than a screen-grab of Bernhard’s perched lie started making the rounds on social media, with no scarcity of ill-informed observers taking digs on the two-time Masters champion’s integrity. Factor was, Bernhard had carried out no unsuitable. He and his son had merely taken benefit of the identical guidelines that had been accessible to the remainder of the sector.
On Monday morning, Bernhard acknowledged in a cellphone interview with GOLF.com that he’d gotten “very lucky” together with his lie, however even when he’d had a much less favorable lie, he mentioned, he thinks the results of his second shot would have been comparable. In that hypothetical situation, Bernhard mentioned, he probably would have hit a fairway wooden as a substitute of a driver and are available up simply in need of the greenside bunker, which nonetheless would left him and Jason a superb opportunity at getting up and down. Bernhard added that there additionally occurred to be a footprint within the neighborhood of his ball, which, if he had positioned his ball on the imprint’s edge, additionally would have given him a equally elevated lie.
After the spherical, the PGA Tour Champions chief guidelines official on-site, Joe Terry, consulted with the Langers and confirmed that Bernhard was “in full compliance with the foundations for a scramble,” a Tour spokesperson informed GOLF.com by e mail. “Joe is one hundred pc assured that no infraction occurred.”
Bernhard and Jason adopted their birdie at 14 with two extra on 15 and 16, a par at 17 and a clutch 4 on the par-5 nearer to safe a playoff with Tiger and Charlie. Each groups replayed the 18th within the playoff, which concluded with Bernhard and Jason staring down an 18-foot eagle strive for the win. Jason putt first.
