PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The best recipe for good golf is a mulligan, particularly a mulligan granted to a major champion and one of the world’s best players.
Unfortunately for Xander Schauffele, he proved to be the exception to the rule during Tuesday’s TGL match between The Bay Golf Club and New York Golf Club.
With the match tied at 3-3, The Bay’s Schauffele found the greenside bunker at the 13th hole, but before he could play his shot Wyndham Clark threw the “hammer,” which would force Schauffele’s team to accept and potentially lose two points or concede a single point.
Schauffele’s team quickly declined the challenged but the 10-time PGA Tour winner played the shot from the greenside bunker, which is allowed under TGL rules.
This is where things became complicated.
Rules official Mark Russell reviewed the exchange and ruled that Schauffele had already “addressed” his ball, which meant Clark and Team NY weren’t allowed to throw the hammer. Schauffele returned to the greenside bunker but didn’t take advantage of the mulligan, leaving the shot in the sand and conceding the hole.
“It netted out terrible for us. We were going to decline [the hammer] anyways, and then I hit such a bad shot, they didn’t even have an opportunity to throw a hammer, so it actually worked,” Schauffele said.
It was the first time the rule was applied in a TGL match and although it worked out for The Bay, which won the match, 5-3, it could have led to some tension had Schauffele been able to execute his second chance.
“Xander was standing over the ball. I could see why they called it that way, but at the same time, the ref that was there gave us the OK,” Clark said. “It could have been a really controversial.”
Shane Lowry, Clark’s teammate, agreed, “If [Russell] made that call in his NBA days, I’m not sure the players would have been as nice. If we had have tied the hole, I would have been …”