PGA Championship
PGA Championship 2024: Here's why this tour pro went 25 minutes (!!) in between shots on Friday evening at Valhalla
Andrew Redington
Robert MacIntyre was cruising along on Friday evening at Valhalla, where the Scotsman found himself just three off the lead as he teed off on the par-5 seventh hole, his 16th of the second round. After hitting the fairway, he seemed primed for another strong chance at birdie, pulling him that much closer to Xander Schauffele's lead and a late afternoon tee time on Saturday.
Then, chaos ensued.
MacIntyre's second shot was wildly off line, 270 yards to "unknown," as they say. The unknown was actually a hospitality area, also known as a temporary immovable obstruction which players are granted (sometimes generous) relief from.
According to MacIntyre, he had taken his original drop into some casual water, which players also get nearest point of relief from. But MacIntyre was unclear where exactly that nearest point was, so he called for a rules official. That rules official was also unsure, so MacIntyre asked for a second opinion.
It was not for another 25 minutes (!!) later that MacIntyre finally hit his next shot, the length of time it apparently took to get that second opinion. Mind you, this was very late on Friday evening, as MacIntyre and Lee Hodges, playing as a twosome after the third member of their group, John Daly, withdrew earlier in the day, tried to get their round in before dark. The long delay certainly didn't help matters.
"I was just trying to find out where my nearest point of relief if I dropped it and it was casual water and I just needed to know where my nearest point of relief was," MacIntyre said. "And the guy didn't know so we had to get a second guy."
When they finally came to a decision, MacIntyre wound up dropping directly in, or on, the hospitality area itself. A page straight out of Phil Mickelson's book:
As you can see in the tweet, MacIntyre was able to salvage par, hitting his fourth shot to 12 feet and sinking the putt. That should have kept the momentum alive, but the huge stall between swings and the fading light did MacIntyre no favors. He made another poor swing at No. 8 which led to a bogey and then missed a 10-footer for par on No. 9 to finish bogey-bogey and drop back to seven under.
MacIntyre, normally a mild-mannered one, was none too pleased afterward.
"[The round] was solid until the last two holes," he said. Took them 25 minutes to get a ruling, and I've come out from the ruling and it's pitch black. It's just really annoyed me. To finish the way I finished is really not good when I'm right in the golf tournament. Now I'm kind of behind the 8-ball trying to fight back.
"It just took longer than it needed to, and I just lost all momentum. Hadn't swung a golf club in 25 minutes. Probably two bad swings, the worst shot I've hit all week on the par-3 eighth. I suppose we just get on with it."
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