Wow, it’s been quite a weekend for women’s sports—first with the incredible upset of the UConn Lady Huskies on Saturday night to end their 111-game win streak and then South Carolina winning their first ever NCAA Title Sunday night.
And while countless eyes enjoyed those events, it only took one set of eyes to ruin the first LPGA major of the season for young star Lexi Thompson.
That’s because it was while all those eyes were on leader Thompson Sunday, she suddenly lost four strokes because of what just one pair of eyes saw Saturday.
It unfolded as Thompson was putting on the 12th hole during the final round when Golf Channel commentators began talking about a rules infraction that had that occurred on the 17th on Saturday recently brought to their attention by a TV Viewer at home.
A video showed Thompson marking her ball before attempting a short putt. In the replay, Thompson’s coin was not visible when she marked her ball, but it was afterward when she placed the ball back on the green, meaning she had replaced the ball in the wrong place.
Officials retroactively assessed Thompson with a two-stroke penalty for playing from the wrong place, plus an additional two strokes for signing an incorrect scorecard after the third round and just like that she suddenly went from leading the tournament at 16 under to falling two strokes off the lead at 12 under.
But kudos to Thompson who after calling the ruling "ridiculous" fought tears on the 13th tee and then fought back period with birdies on 13 and 18 to get to 14 under and force a playoff with So Yeon Ryu—which Ryu won on the first hole.
Of course, when I think of how to describe the officials and that ridiculous call, let’s just say I’m thinking of the second hole.