For a second successive year, Anna Davis has agonisingly missed the cut after she was dealt a penalty at the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
Davis, who won the tournament in 2021 at age 16, was warned about her slow play on several occasions during Thursday's second round at Champions Retreat.
A one-shot penalty was eventually served on the 17th hole, with the American failing to birdie the par-five 18th and subsequently missing the cut by one shot after shooting a six-over-par 78.
For Davis, now a freshman at Auburn, the incident marks the second straight year that she has been involved in a rules controversy at the prestigious amateur tournament.
When she returned last year as the defending champion, the then-17-year-old was dealt a four-stroke penalty on the opening hole of the tournament when she twice mistakenly marked and cleaned her ball in the rough after thinking it was preferred lies everywhere. She went on to miss the cut by two strokes.
“Anna Davis was assessed a one-stroke penalty for violation of the Tournament’s Pace of Play Policy,” a statement from rules committee chair Jim Hyler said.
“Her group, which included Lottie Woad and Maria Jose Marin, was notified that they were out of position multiple times during their second round. While being timed, Davis received her first bad time after playing her second stroke on hole No. 5 and received her second bad time following her second stroke on hole No. 17.
"She was subsequently assessed a one-stroke penalty, which was applied on hole No. 17.”
Davis joins the likes of Rachel Heck and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, the sister of LIV Golf star Eugenio, in missing the cut and the opportunity to play in Saturday's final round at Augusta National.
At the other end of the leaderboard, England's Lottie Woad leads the way on -5 after a gutsy second-round 71, with American duo Gianna Clemente and Maisie Filler her closest contenders two shots back on -3.
