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Chamblee vocalized his opinion on Wyndham Clark’s controversy on the 18th hole at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational ended with controversy. Wyndham Clark appeared to address his ball, causing it to move before his second shot on 18, but did not receive a two-stroke penalty.
Clark addressed the issue afterwards, telling the media that he wasn’t cheating.
Yet, during Saturday night’s Golf Central telecast, analyst Brandel Chamblee expressed his displeasure with the ruling.
“I would respectfully disagree with the rules officials and Wyndham Clark. The ball clearly moved. He clearly didn’t ground the club lightly. I don’t need video to see this. I saw it live, and I knew the ball moved,” Chamblee said. “I think he should have been penalized.”
Clark went on to bogey the 18th, but it could have much been worse.
The NBC broadcast team felt like something happened watching the shot on live television.
Their speculation prompted the PGA Tour’s lead TV rules and video analyst, Mark Dusbabek, to come on air and explain.
“Dan [Hicks], that makes my heart flutter, as well,” Dusbabek said. “For a ball to move, based on the definition, it has to go to a different spot. It can move, but as long as it comes back to its original spot, it technically hasn’t moved. So, when we watch this tape, it looks like it’s come back to its same spot.”
Hicks then asked if he felt like Clark had improved his lie since he grounded the club behind the ball multiple times.
“I know, Dan, that it looks bad, that maybe he’s trying to improve the area of his intended swing… It doesn’t look like there’s enough there,” Dusbabek said. “A player is allowed to ground his club with the weight of the club against the ground, so that’s basically what he’s doing right there. I feel his ball didn’t move, and he did nothing to affect the stroke.”
After the round ended, Ken Tackett, the chief referee at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, clarified with Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis why there was no stroke penalty. The committee who ruled on it agreed that the ball wobbled but returned to its original spot.
Officials also consider the “naked eye” standard. What does that mean?
If the naked eye cannot easily see the facts in the video, that evidence will be disregarded even if it indicates a broken rule.
Chamblee didn’t care about any of those reports or Clark’s response. He wasn’t claiming that the reigning U.S. Open champion cheated but wondered why the Ryder Cup alum grounded his club so forcefully.
Nevertheless, Clark heads into the final round at 8-under and one shot off the leaders, Scottie Scheffler and Shane Lowry.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
