Justin Thomas was quite frustrated on the third day of the US Open. Namely, at one point the ball was close to the edge of the drain, at the very edge of the exact. Thomas then had one request, however his free drop was denied.
“F*****g bulls**t,” Thomas said. Justin Thomas acted in an interesting way. “To me it was around a drain, and very clearly my stance and my ball was sitting differently than it would be if that drain was not there,” Thomas said forUSGA media, as quoted by nytimes.
“I called an official to get a ruling on it, and in the spirit of the game, I wasn’t going to hit the drain. I felt like I very easily could have told her that I was going to and gotten a free drop, but I wasn’t going to do that”.
Thomas doesn’t want to act like ‘everyone’ “That’s what pisses me off,” Thomas said. “Because so many other people would lie about being able to hit that. But it’s just like, I’m not going to hit it”.
USGA statement
The USGA explained the reasons for the referee’s decision. “On the fourth hole, Justin Thomas’ ball came to rest near a drain in the fairway. Justin requested a ruling from a nearby referee.
During the discussion, Justin was asked if the drain was going to interfere with his swing, to which he replied it was not,” the statement read. “Because there was no interference from the drain, Justin was not provided relief.
“Rule 16.1a(1) states that interference from an immovable obstruction exists when the ball touches or is in or on the obstruction, or the obstruction physically interferes with the player’s area of intended stance or area of intended swing.
The Rule goes on to state that if the obstruction is close enough to distract the player but does not otherwise interfere, there is no relief under the Rule”.
