'He Basically Got A Mulligan' - Reports Share How Chaos Reigned Amid Controversial Ruling At Asian Tour Event

There was a hugely controversial moment during the third round of an Asian Tour event that proved so divisive that the fallout affected its conclusion the following day.

During the Maekyung Open at Namseoul Country Club in South Korea, local player Inhoi Hur was reportedly involved in an argument lasting almost 40 minutes concerning whether or not his tee shot at the 7th had strayed out of bounds.

Per Monday Q Info, Hur’s tee shot went right of a fairway bunker and apparently out of bounds.

However, Hur delayed hitting a provisional before eventually going ahead with one.

While the search for the original ball was underway, allegedly, neither Hur nor his caddie joined in, with the player apparently preparing to take the penalty and continue with the provisional.

At that point, a spotter was said to have found the original ball in the out-of-bounds area and handed it to Hur.

While that all seems relatively straightforward, the waters were apparently soon muddied by members of Hur’s gallery quickly claiming that, actually, the caddie of his playing partner, American Micah Shin, had picked up the ball – and that it was in bounds at the time.

It got even murkier when a rules official confirmed he had seen the ball stray out of bounds – a claim not helped by the fact that, when asked to point out where the ball had crossed, he identified a spot yards from where the ball had been found.

So, how was the dispute resolved - at least to begin with? Bizarrely, with what was effectively a mulligan, after officials from the Korean Tour, who co-sanctioned the event, determined Hur could treat the provisional as the ball in play, wiping the slate clean of the original tee shot.

It appears that wasn’t the right call, because the spotter is classed as an outside influence and, under Rule 9.6 of the Rules of Golf, "the ball must be replaced on its original spot (which if not known must be estimated)."

Had it been ruled in bounds, Hur would have been expected to continue with that ball as his second shot. If it had been determined as out of bounds, the provisional would be used and count as his fourth.

It appears both the spotter and rules official should have made the call over whether the ball was in bounds or out of bounds.

Naturally, the decision that was ultimately taken led to disgruntlement, with one player telling Flushing It: "It’s f****** b*******. He basically got a mulligan."

However, the matter appeared to have reached an uneasy conclusion when Hur made par at the 7th on his way to completing a round of 69.

There was more to come on the incident, though. According to Seoul Economic Daily, the tournament committee was quoted as saying: "There was a 'wrong ruling' by the on-site referee.

“However, by the time we became aware of it, three holes had already passed. The situation could not be reversed, so play continued as it was."

Still, that didn’t bring the matter to a head, though. Indeed, according to Monday Q Info, Shin and his caddie met with officials from both tours ahead of the final round, before Hur moved himself firmly into contention for victory.

Hur even he had a birdie putt at the 18^th to claim the title, but it missed, leaving him to assume the next port of call would be a three-way playoff.

That was until he was informed by officials that the 69 he shot in the third round was, in fact, a 71 because of the out-of-bounds ruling at the 7th.

That left Hur in a tie for third before Minhyuk Song went on to beat Mingyu Cho in the playoff.

Flushing It later published a statement from the Asian Tour sent to the players, clarifying the decision to apply the two-stroke penalty retroactively.

The statement describes the timeline of the incident, while also stating that: "Based on our new findings, it was clear there was sufficient evidence to support that Inhou's original tee shot was out of bounds," with the ruling revised as a "stroke and distance penalty," meaning Hur's original score of four at the hole became a six.