MULLIGAN: Jesper Parnevik Hit With Unique Penalty

When you’re out golfing with your buddies, it’s pretty normal to take a mulligan or two if you hit a bad shot. Obviously that’s usually frowned upon in actual competition, but as Jesper Parnevik found out this week, not taking a mulligan could be a penalty in itself.

The scene begins at the SAS Championship this past weekend where Parnevik was playing at four over par for the tournament when he approached the third hole, a 200-yard par 3. Parnevik was left with a bogey putt on the hole and when he hit it, it spun around the cup to bump into his foot on the other side. Parnevik then tapped in the ball for what he thought was a double bogey. Boy was he wrong.

Faced with a decision on how to call the stroke, the rules officials on the ground were unable to make the decision as they were just as confused as everyone else on how to proceed. That’s when the USGA stepped in and made the decision.

Parnevik was supposed to take a mulligan for rimming the ball around and off of his foot.

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Here’s the rule for reference is 11.1.b which reads, “When Ball Played from Putting Green Accidentally Hits Any Person, Animal or Movable Obstruction (Including Another Ball in Motion) on Putting Green: The stroke does not count and the original ball or another ball must be replaced on its original spot.” So for not taking a mulligan, Parnevik was charged with a two-stroke penalty on what was supposed to be a bogey, giving him a triple-bogey for the hole.

I know that’s incredibly confusing so rules official Brian Claar tried to simplify it:

“When a ball on the putting green accidentally hits any person, animal or immovable obstruction, this stroke does not count and the ball must be replaced on its original spot,” Claar said. “Jesper tapped it in. In that situation, he’s played from the wrong place. Unfortunately, he gets a two-stroke penalty for playing from the wrong place, and the one where he tapped in counts but the original stroke does not count.”
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This has to be one of the strangest things to happen to Parnevik on the pro golf circuit, and considering how he dresses, that’s saying something. Unfortunately for Parnevik, he lost about $600 on that penalty but he’ll look to recoup that in tournaments moving forward.

Cover Image Via Twitter