Wyndham Clark entered Friday’s second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a two-shot lead. He carded a 5-under 67 on Thursday, despite the brutal, windy conditions. However, things did not go quite as well during the second round.
Early in his round, Clark once again found himself encircled in controversy.
Following his tee shot on the par-4 3rd at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, the ball appeared to bounce and nestled into a pitch mark. Clark approached his ball and took relief, as his ball was covered in mud. However, NBC’s Golf Channel announcers thought maybe his ball landed in someone else’s pitch mark. Would that be the case, free relief is not granted.
Following his round, Clark was asked his thoughts on that moment.
“Yeah, didn’t know there was any confusion, obviously, when I’m playing,” said Clark. “When we hit it I was asking for it to stop. We never saw it bounce. Then we get up there and it’s in a plugged lie. It was filled with — my ball was covered with mud. So we took relief, didn’t think anything of it.”
Alas, the PGA Tour released a statement detailing the incident.
“Statement from the PGA TOUR Rules Committee:
“After reviewing ShotLink video of Wyndham Clark’s tee shot on the third hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the PGA TOUR Rules Committee determined that the ball returned to its own pitch mark, which entitled Clark to free relief.”
Interestingly, tons of fans on social media were convinced the ball, in fact, did not land in Clark’s pitch mark. Video of the incident has also been pulled down across all social platforms.
The 2023 U.S. Open champion ultimately parred the hole and held the lead all day until a double bogey on 15. He finished the day at 6-under, in solo second behind Shane Lowry.
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