Collin Morikawa was 1 under through five holes Thursday during the opening round of the 2023 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
After hitting his tee shot on the par-3 sixth to 37 feet below the hole, an apparent controversy arose as a video quickly made its way around social media showing Morikawa marking his ball.
In the video, you can see where his mark was behind the ball, then you can see Morikawa move his mark closer to the ball.
Had the ball moved prior to that?
After his round, Morikawa said that it did.
“Yeah, the ball moved, and then I moved it back,” he said. “Pretty standard now. Pretty routine in our rules book thankfully.”
According to Rule 13.1d of the U.S. Golf Association guidelines, a ball that has moved must be replaced to the original location, which it appears Morikawa tried to do.
Watch the full clip below:
Potential rules violation by Collin Morikawa
#TheMasters
pic.twitter.com/ggN4KmLTvC— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) April 6, 2023
Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta
Morikawa made par on the hole, then birdied the next one to get to 2 under. He signed for a 3-under 69.
“Look, if I showed up to this course and it was firm and fast, I probably would never put my putter down because you never know when that’s going to just trickle on. Now it’s was on a little mound and moved and nothing wrong with that,” he said.
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