Great host of the first round, Brooks Koepka was also at the center of the discussions Thursday evening in Georgia. The reason ? Information given by his caddy to that of Gary Woodland on the club played on the second shot of the 15th.
Author of one of his 8 birdies of the day to 15, Brooks Koepka is leading the tournament alongside Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm on Thursday evening. A half-surprise for observers who have witnessed for several months the slow regression of the four-time Major winner, eliminated after two rounds in the last two editions of the Masters.
Now fully recovered from his injuries, Brooks Koepka again seems to be able to give his full potential.
Masters, rule
But in addition to his XXL performance, what also caused a lot of talk was the exchange captured by the cameras involving his caddy and that of Gary Woodland just after his masterful iron shot on this second par 5 of the return.
After hitting the green in half with a 5-iron, Ricky Elliott (Koepka’s caddy), clearly said the word “FIVE” (five) twice in the direction of the caddy of 2019 Us Open winner Brennan Little. This is unambiguously the club played by Koepka.
What the rule says:
10.2
Advice and other help
Purpose of the Rule: A fundamental challenge for the player is deciding game strategy and tactics. There are therefore limits to the advice and other assistance the player can get during a round.
10.2a
Advice
During a round, a player must not: Give advice to any person in the competition on the course,
Seek advice from anyone, other than his caddie, or
Touching another player’s equipment to get information that would be advice if given or asked by the other player (e.g.
touching clubs or player’s bag to see which club is being used). However, at the end of the 1st round, officials who asked Koepka to come and explain what exactly had happened took no sanction against the players. “Absolutely, we have reviewed the footage,” Koepka said.
GW (Woodland) and Butchie (Little) had no idea what club we played. I know because Gary asked me when we started down to the green. So that’s all I can tell you. » Augusta National then released an official statement about the incident.
Here is what you can read. “At the end of Brooks Koepka’s 1st round, the committee questioned his caddy and other members of the group about a possible incident at 15. All involved were adamant that no advice was given or asked.
Accordingly, the Committee found that there was no breach of the Rules. » Asked about it, Paul McGinley the consultant for Skysports and Golf Channel, indicated that this “kind of thing” happened frequently in tournaments.
Even if this would therefore be “tolerated”, the fact remains that the rule seems to have been broken.
