WHAT!? Paul Casey Almost Penalized After Putting Over a Bug

We’ve all heard about the new changes that the World Golf Rankings unveiled this year and while many resisted them at first, they have been mostly accepted now. But it appears that old rules are starting to surprise some players.

Take Paul Casey for an example. The British player was having a great week in an effort to try and make Great Britain’s Olympics team in 2020, dominating his tournament on the European Tour. But Casey’s win isn’t what got most of the headlines this week, it’s actually the bizarre penalty that was almost enforced on him.

A video was posted on social media after his second round that showed Casey hitting a nice putt that barely fell off the left edge into the cup. But if you look closely, the ball appears to roll right over some type of bug on the green. According to the rules of golf, if a moving ball on the putting green hits a person, animal or object, then the shot must be retaken. And believe it or not, even bugs are considered to be animals.

https://twitter.com/EuropeanTour/status/1170079222037020672

Casey didn’t have any clue that he could have violated that rule as you can even hear him in the video shout out that “Almost a Rules infraction, and I had no clue. Ants and bugs and beetles, you know, we’ve got to protect them.” Luckily for Casey, no rules official warned him of the infraction and since he didn’t knowingly break the rule, it was not enforced.

I think the craziest part of the whole thing is that I’m sure that super tiny bugs are hit on the green all the time when players are putting but you don’t even notice. And if Casey would have been penalized, there would have been madness that ensued. Consider that Casey only won the tournament by one stroke, so any penalty would have cost him a tournament win.

It’s a pretty obvious rule out that is laid out by the golf world but it just seems ridiculous when you consider hitting an insect an animal since it doesn’t affect the putt at all. Perhaps clarity can be added to the rule later to not include small insects but until then, make sure you’re aware of what’s in your putting line.

Cover Image Via Twitter