As Sunday’s second (and final) round played out at the rain-plagued Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic, Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen likely was still upset about what happened late Saturday night. However, she did not have to fret that the penalty stroke for her rules violation cost her the chance of claiming her first LPGA title.
Playing the par-5 fourth hole at the Old American Golf Club on Colony, Texas, the 13th of her second round and the second-to-last she would play on Saturday, Broch Larsen thought she saw her ball move. The 23-year-old discussed the situation with an on-course rules official, who ruled that Broch Larsen hadn’t caused the ball to move. So she played on and made what she thought was a birdie 4. However, an LPGA official assigned to watch the broadcast of the event contacted the on-site Rules Committee with “added information” from seeing video footage.
After the Rules Committee reviewed the video and had further discussions with Broch Larsen, it was determined that it was more likely than not that she did cause the ball to move, and so she received a one-stroke penalty after all under Rule 18-2. She did not, however, receive a penalty for playing her ball from the wrong place because she was following the directions of the on-site officials.
(Video was permitted to help overturn the original ruling in this instance despite last year’s decision, “The Lexi Rule,” which says that a player’s reasonable judgement will be accepted even if video shows it to be inaccurate. That was because “The Lexi Rule” was meant to apply when the issue involved is determining a point of relief or the replacement of a lifted ball, or in instances where it reveals things that could not reasonably be seen with the naked eye. It was determined that was not the case here.)
Taking a par instead of birdie, Broch Larsen fell to six-under for the tournament when play was suspended due to darkness, leaving her tied with four other players for first as they waited to finish the second round. Broch Larsen then played her remaining four holes on Sunday in one-over, and finished her 36 holes at five-under 137. At the same time, India’s Aditi Ashok wrapped up a second-round 66 that left her at seven-under 135. Meaning, Broch Larsen didn’t have to wait the rest of the day as the remaining players in the 144-player field closed out their second rounds to see if she might be in a playoff (or worse yet be one stroke out of a playoff, caused by the penalty).
