Mark SchlapachSenior writer for ESPN2 minutes to read
ROCHESTER, NY — A costly mistake on the green could prevent Cameron Young from achieving PGA Championship success at Oak Hill Country Club.
After shooting his second putt on the green on the par-4 16th hole, his seventh hole of the second round, Young’s 59-foot putt, appeared just two feet away. As Young’s ball was in the line of play of partners Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama, he moved it a clubhead length to the side.
After Fleetwood and Matsuyama both bowled, Young fell to putt but forgot to return the ball to its original position. Young was assessed a two-stroke penalty for breaching Rule 15.3c of the Golf Rules.
“As a result, when he substituted and holed the ball, Young played from the wrong spot and incurred a public penalty (two strokes) for violating rule 15.3,” the PGA Championship Rules Committee said in a statement on Friday.
The error resulted in a double bogey 6 of Leung, the 15th player in the world. After cards 4-over 74 in the first round on Thursday, Young was beginning to adapt before his defeat in the 16th. After opening his second round with a bogey on the 10th hole, he birdied birdies on the pars 11, 12 and 15 to move into 2 under the round and 2 overall.
But a double bogey on the 16th dropped him to 4. He made a bogey on the 18th and 4th and another double bogey on the 6th. He was 8 over in the total after 15 holes, 4 shots outside the expected cut line of 4 overs.
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