The suspicion of breaking the law in the first round of Masters 2023
The first question concerns American golfer Collin Morikawa, which occurred on the par3 6 hole when he was about to find a birdie in a putt 11.2 meters from the flag. But Morikawa suddenly stopped, just as he was about to strike, and left his position.
Next, a close-up shot shows Morikawa moving the shadow in front of the coin marking more than half of the index finger. After placing the ball in a new position, closer to the hole, he continued to move the coin close to it, then lifted the ball and put it back.
That development appeared on Twitter, causing the golf community to talk. Many people quickly blamed Morikawa for cheating.
However, veteran golf writer Dan Rapaport has researched and corrected that, Morikawa did so because he discovered that the ball, due to lying on a slope, had suddenly moved even though he had not made any impact. According to Golf Digest, Morikawa correctly manipulated Article 13.1d of the golf rules to return the ball to its original position. And so, when looking through Twitter, many viewers misunderstood due to the unknown internal content.
At Masters 2022, Morikawa finished fifth. After completing round 1 this year, he stood at T13 with a score of -3. After Morikawa was "cleared" of hole 6, it was the referee's turn to solve the legal question for Brooks Koepka - Gary Woodland at hole 15.
Under section 10.2a, a golfer may not seek advice or give professional advice to a player in the same group. The suspicion of violating this rule was raised when caddie Ricky Elliott made a "five" as if to inform the Woodland caddy that "client Koepka just used a 5 iron for the second shot". Woodland hadn't hit yet.
After completing the round, the referee team summoned the Koepka team to verify. Finally, the Organizing Committee announced the end of the case and no one was penalized because they all pledged not to exchange professional information.
When the press raised doubts on the 15th hole, Koepka said: "Gary asked me what kind of club I used when we finished the second shot. I can only give you that kind of information."
If the referee team concludes that the two sides' caddies "exchange" professionally, Koepka and Woodland will receive the same two-stroke penalty, which will be counted towards the point of the hole breaking the law.
At the end of round 1, Koepka was at T1 (point -7) and Woodland was at T6 (-4). Round 2 started on the evening of April 7 in Hanoi time and was postponed because of bad weather. However, Koepka, Woodland and Morikawa all finished the match. Koepka currently monopolizes the top of the table with a score of -12, Woodland is T10 (-4), Morikawa is T4 (-6).
Morikawa is 26 years old this year, just four years old, but has won five cups on the PGA Tour, including two majors - PGA Championship 2020 and The Open 2021.
38-year-old Woodland is still with the PGA Tour, holding four new cups, including the 2019 US Open major, and 32-year-old Koepka is being banned by the PGA Tour because of the Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf League from the opening season 2022. qualified to the Masters 2023 by winning the peer-to-peer tournaments in the last five years. Besides, this event is beyond the control or control of the organization that owns the first-class golf arena in the US.
When he was still playing on this system, Koepka was an A-list star, reflected in eight cups of which half came from major - US Open 2017-2018, PGA Championship 2018-2019 and 47 weeks combined at the top of the men's professional golf table. world industry.
