A bizarre rules incident left Akshay Bhatia scratching his head at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, where an unusual "internal out of bounds" ruling caught the young American off guard.
The 22-year-old found himself in a tricky spot off the tee on the 13th hole at Emirates GC. Seeing no better option, he chipped out onto what looked like a safe haven – the eighth fairway.
That’s when things got weird.
A rules official approached Bhatia with some surprising news: the eighth fairway was actually considered out of bounds for players on the 13th hole.
"On the sheet it didn’t say that, though," Bhatia protested.
Turns out, it did – but the rule was buried at the bottom of the sheet, something that left both Bhatia and the broadcast team pretty confused.
The penalty led to a double bogey on what should have been a scoring opportunity at the par 5. Thankfully, Bhatia managed to make the cut despite the setback.
But he wasn’t the only pro having rules drama this weekend.
Across the globe at The American Express, J.T. Poston found himself in an equally frustrating situation when his ball mysteriously moved as he was setting up for a shot on the second hole of the Pete Dye Stadium Course.
Poston and his playing partner Jake Knapp both agreed he hadn’t caused the movement – the ball had simply rolled back on an upslope. But what followed was a painfully long wait as officials reviewed the footage.
How long? Try two hours.
The delay couldn’t have come at a worse time for Poston. He was already having a rough day, watching his excellent opening round of 62 slip away during a tough front nine.
While he eventually avoided a penalty, the damage was done. Poston finished with a four-over-par round, dropping him into a tie for 58th place – quite a fall after being among the leaders just a day earlier.
It just goes to show that even the pros sometimes get caught out by golf’s complicated rulebook.
