Asian Tour Admits Mistake After Controversial Rules Incident At Hong Kong Open

The Asian Tour has admitted a mistake was made when dealing with a heated rules controversy during the final round of last week's Hong Kong Open.

Down the closing stretch at the Hong Kong Golf Club, tournament leader Phachara Khongwatmai found himself in the bushes after a wayward tee shot on the 16th. 

A 15-minute debate ensued as the Thai golfer tried to find his ball and figure out if he could play a shot, with both playing partners - Cameron Smith and Ben Campbell - as well as a rules official called over.

The controversy hinged when Khongwatmai began moving branches and bushes which both his playing partners felt were still connected to the tree, a clear infraction of Rule 8.1.

Now, Tour bosses have released a statement stating that Khongwatmai's actions shouldn't have been allowed and he should have been penalised. 

 “The Asian Tour has reviewed the rules incident with Phachara Khongwatmai on the 16th hole in the final round of the Hong Kong Open on Sunday," the statement said.

"After carefully looking at the broadcast coverage, we have identified infractions relating to Rule 8.1. 

"A private, internal review will take place by the Asian Tour to ensure we learn from this experience and avoid a recurrence of the matter.”

Rule 8.1 relates to "player’s actions that improve conditions affecting the stroke. Specifically, it states that a player cannot "move, bend or break any growing or attached natural object, immovable obstruction, integral object or boundary object, or tee-marker for the teeing area when playing a ball from that teeing area."

Khongwatmai eventually played out and although he was not penalised, he would go on to make a costly double bogey. 

Despite birdieing the 17th to jump back into a share of the lead with playing partners Smith and Campbell, the 24-year-old was ultimately pipped after a bogey on the last hole, with Campbell draining a 15-foot birdie effort to claim a dramatic one-shot victory over Smith.