It’s pretty clear that after this, Seung-Yul Noh knows the rule.
The 23-year-old Korean was penalized two shots in Friday’s second round of The Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club because he played his ball off the green of a hole he wasn’t playing. The bogey 5 he made turned into a triple-bogey 7, and his 1-over 72 put him at 2-under for the tournament, six shots back of the leaders.
“I didn’t know [the rule],” Noh said. “It’s my bad. But sometimes a referee is right there and says you can’t play it from there. No referee was close.”
Noh hit his drive on the par-4 11th hole so far right that it ended up on the green of No. 3. He allowed the group on the green to putt out, then he took a full swing with an iron, pulling up a pretty hefty divot, which had to be replaced by a hole plug from the course staff.
According to Rule 25-3, if a player is on the wrong putting green, he has to take a free drop at the nearest point of relief that is not a hazard or another putting green. It is not a local rule just put into play at this tournament, but one that is in the USGA rule book and almost always followed.
“I’ve been out here 33 years,” Vice President of Rules and Competition Slugger White told PGATour.com. “We have never seen this happen.”
Noh broke through with his first PGA Tour win earlier this season, taking the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April. He has worked with swing coach Sean Foley, the same coach used by Tiger Woods, and came into the week ranked 42nd in the FedEx Cup standings.
The top 100 go on to the next playoff event, at TPC Boston over Labor Day weekend. From there, the top 70 go on to the third leg in the Colorado, and the top 30 play in the Tour Championship at East Lake, outside Atlanta, with the cumulative winner taking home a $10 million first prize.