This obscure rules violation just cost a Euro Tour contender 2 shots in the final round

Shaun Norris was strolling along Sunday, in contention to win his third career European Tour event at the Nexo Championship at Trump International in Scotland. Then, on the fifth hole, golf’s rules jumped up and bit him.

The 44-year-old from South Africa started the day in the lead. He was about to hit a pitch shot on the par-4 fifth hole when he felt something under his right foot. So he stepped back and off the shot to kick away what was a divot. But it was a replaced divot, not a fresh one that had not been replaced, which is what caused the issue.

Rule 8.1 supports the principle of “play the course as you find it” and specifically mentions what a player can and cannot do. In section (a) under Rule 8.1, the third bullet point says that a player will be handed a two-stroke penalty if he or she is seen “removing or pressing down divots that have already been replaced or other cut turf that is already in place.”

Watch the video above. It’s clear that Norris was not trying to gain an advantage, but yet, while in contention with Scott Jamieson and Matthew Jordan he had to put down a double-bogey 6 on the fifth hole instead of a par. That dropped him to two over for the day and two shots off the lead at the time.

Norris went on to shoot four-over 76 that included three double bogeys, closing with one on 18. He tied for seventh place at five-under total, six shots behind winner Scott Jamieson, who won for the first time in 14 years.