No, it wasn’t a shot-tracking mistake.
Matt Baldwin, a 38-year-old Englishman who performs on the DP World Tour, actually did hit an 8-yard drive on Thursday on the Betfred British Masters.
Let him clarify, although.
The weird tee shot occurred on The Belfry’s 438-yard, par-4 fourth gap, which encompasses a again tee that’s principally surrounded by water. Baldwin was 1 beneath by way of his first three holes when one thing unusual occurred as he started to swing his driver.
“Bought to the highest of my backswing,” Baldwin informed DPWT social on Friday, “felt like a little bit little bit of a crack perhaps within the glue or within the head, so tried to cease, momentum carried me on and simply clipped the ball that a lot right here (inside heel of the clubface), and it went by way of my legs and almost into the water hazard down behind me.”
Baldwin added that his first response was to snort as a result of he assumed that as a result of he tried to cease his swing, he’d have the ability to re-tee with out penalty.
“However it seems,” Baldwin mentioned, “as a result of I made contact with the ball, it was truly a shot and I needed to play my subsequent one from a yard in entrance of the tee marker, from the tough.”
There are just a few cases through which the Guidelines of Golf permit a stroke to be discarded: if a participant begins his swing however then both stops it or purposely misses the ball on the follow-through, or if a participant unintentionally makes contact with the ball throughout a observe swing (a la Zach Johnson on the Masters) or whereas getting ready for the shot.
So, Baldwin was out of luck. With 445 yards nonetheless to the outlet, he hit 4-hybrid 180 yards with this second shot after which failed to achieve the inexperienced with a 6-iron. He recovered properly from there, although, pitching on to 10 toes and sinking the putt.
“Straightforward bogey,” mentioned Baldwin, who after rounds of 72-68 sits T-14 on the leaderboard by way of 36 holes.
