Cruel lip-out leads to one-stroke penalty after golfer takes too long to hit putt

October 18, 2021

Korea’s Seonghyeon Kim finished his final round at The CJ Cup this morning in controversial circumstances.

Faced with a four-foot putt for birdie at the 18th hole, Kim’s golf ball cruelly lipped out and sat precariously on the edge of the hole.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1449858780209025026

Seonghyeon Kim was assessed a one-stroke penalty for his ball falling into the hole on No. 18 after a "reasonable amount of time to reach the hole plus 10 seconds" had expired (Rule 13.3a). pic.twitter.com/8xRhmcoEpy

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 17, 2021

Bemused, Kim walked around the ball and waited a very long time before standing over the ball to knock it in the hole before it fell in. Much to the amusement of Ki, the crowd and the commentators.

The problem was, Kim waited too long. You’re only allowed 10 seconds from the time you reach the hole. As Rule 13-3a says:

13.3 Ball Overhanging Hole
a. Waiting Time to See If Ball Overhanging Hole Will Fall into Hole
If any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole:

- The player is allowed a reasonable time to reach the hole and ten more seconds to wait to see whether the ball will fall into the hole.
- If the ball falls into the hole in this waiting time, the player has holed out with the previous stroke.
- If the ball does not fall into the hole in this waiting time:
  - The ball is treated as being at rest.
  - If the ball then falls into the hole before it is played, the player has holed out with the previous stroke, but gets one penalty stroke added to the score for the hole.

Kim’s birdie turned into a par and with it a loss of nearly $20,000.

It’s a little odd the commentators never mentioned this could be in violation of the rules at all. Maybe they were being nice, or maybe they didn’t know the rule.

Strangely, Lee Westwood thought it was “borderline”. See below. Sarcasm perhaps? 🙂