There was a moment of controversy involving Wyndham Clark during the final moments of round three at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday.
While in a three-way share of the lead alongside Shane Lowry and Scottie Scheffler on nine-under, the reigning US Open champion had found the left rough on 18 and was weighing up his options on how to proceed out of the thick vegetation when the television cameras zoomed in on Clark dabbing his club head into ground behind the ball several times.
NBC Sports anchor Dan Hicks questioned whether the ball had moved slightly in the process, and replays followed allowing the analysts and crowd at home to make up their own minds.
Mark Dusbabek, the PGA Tour’s lead TV rules and video analyst, was brought into give his verdict on the matter. And while he did not feel the ball had in fact shifted its position, Dusbabek did admit the incident made his heart "flutter" for a moment.
He said: “For a ball to move, based on the definition, it has to go to a different spot. It can move, but as long as it comes back to its original spot, it technically hasn’t moved. So, when we watch this tape, it looks like it’s come back to its same spot.”
Hicks then asked about Clark potentially improving his lie, to which Dusbabek replied: “I know, Dan, that it looks bad, that maybe he’s trying to improve the area of his intended swing. … It doesn’t look like there’s enough there.
“A player is allowed to ground his club with the weight of the club against the ground, so that basically what he’s doing right there. I feel his ball didn’t move, and I feel like he did nothing to affect the stroke.”
Did Wyndham Clark just improve his lie on the 18th? Sketchy activity from the co leader pic.twitter.com/8swqFLiOpbMarch 9, 2024
While Dusbabek felt no prohibited action had taken place, analysts Brad Faxon and Luke Donald were not so sure.
Faxon said: “It certainly didn’t look like it was just the weight of the club. … It certainly wasn’t good looking.”
And Donald said: “He needed to be a little more careful with that club. … He was laying up anyway, so what was the advantage of trying to improve the lie?”
Following a chunked-out lay-up of 30 yards or so back into the fairway, Clark went on to make bogey and drop back to eight under through 54 holes at Bay Hill.
Speaking to Eurosport about the incident post-round, Clark claimed he was only made aware of a potential infringement once he arrived in the scoring tent and spoke with playing partner, Scheffler and a rules official.
Giving his take on what happened, Clark was adamant he did not try to bend the rules.
He said: “I wasn't trying to do anything... cheating or anything like that or trying to improve my lie. I just simply put my club down.
"Obviously, they zoom in, and it makes it look worse. We all talked about it. Scottie and the rules official didn’t think it moved. So, fortunately that (a penalty) didn’t happen.”
Clarks answer in full: pic.twitter.com/qenjMvG9JqMarch 10, 2024
In response, later on in the NBC broadcast, Brandel Chamblee argued that he could see the ball had moved with his own eyes and asked why Clark grounded his club so forcefully behind the ball.
Chamblee said: “I would respectfully disagree with the rules officials. I would respectfully disagree with Wyndham Clark. The ball clearly moved. He clearly didn’t ground the club lightly.
“I don’t need video to see this; I saw it live and I knew the ball moved. I think he should have been penalized.”
According to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, a video of the moment involving Clark was sent to everyone on the PGA Tour’s rules committee at Bay Hill and they decided that "the ball wobbled but returned to its original spot," therefore no penalty was enforced.
