DP World Tour Pro Drops Out Of Contention After Costly Ruling Penalty At European Masters

Jordan Smith will have had high hopes of a third DP World Tour title when the third day’s play began at the Omega European Masters at Crans-Sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland. 

That’s because he began the day just five shots off overnight leader Matt Wallace. In blustery conditions, Smith recovered from a bogey on the first hole to make the turn one-under for his round and remain firmly in the hunt.

However, Smith’s second bogey of the day on the 10th curtailed his progress slightly before disaster struck on the 12th, when he was hit with a two-shot penalty.

The DP World Tour has yet to release specific information on why the Englishman was penalized, but it appears that when he dropped his ball after landing in the penalty area, it came to rest outside the relief area. Per rule 14.2 of the Rules of Golf, that would have then given Smith the chance to drop the ball "in the right way a second time." Smith’s ball seemingly came to rest in the penalty area again, and it’s from there that he opted to take his shot.

That is a breach of the rule, as the correct way to proceed would have been to take his shot from where the ball first touched the ground on the second drop. As a result, Smith was given a two-shot penalty, meaning his already disappointing double-bogey on the par-4 became a highly damaging quadruple-bogey eight.

It wasn’t just Smith who ran into significant difficulties at the 12th during Moving Day. Thanks to the conditions, which saw gusts of around 35mph at various points, there was carnage throughout the day, including two players, Nicolai von Dellingshausen and Eddie Pepperell, who putted into the lake at the hole to put a dent in their own chances of victory.

The conditions made for a fascinating if entirely unpredictable day of DP World Tour action. Only three players - Jonas Blixt, Sebastian Soderberg and Edoardo Molinari - finished under-par for the day with the upshot being that Wallace is 11-under with a four-shot overnight lead ahead of Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia. Following Smith’s woes at the 12th, he heads into the final round in T17, nine behind his compatriot.