WATCH: The Bizarre Bunker Rule That Played Out During Farmers Insurance Finale

An usual incident occurred in the Farmers Insurance Open playoff

Two golf balls pictured in a bunker
(Image credit: PGA Tour)

Luke List and Will Zalatoris were involved in a bizarre bunker rules incident during their Farmers Insurance Open after both men hit their drives to within inches of each other's in a fairway bunker on Torrey Pines' finishing hole.

Eventual winner Luke List found a plugged lie in the bunker, with Zalatoris' ball resting just on the edge of List's plug mark to the right. Surprisingly List didn't get his opponent to mark his golf ball and went and splashed his shot out and up the fairway. That left a big hole to the side of Zalatoris' ball as well as sand in front of it, meaning he could have the bunker raked to try and get his lie as close to how it was prior to List's shot.

Zalatoris' caddie Ryan Goble then (very carefully) raked the bunker to the 'oohs' and 'aahs' of the watching crowd before the American instructed the referee to rake the section just in front of his ball where the extra sand had built up following on from List's shot. "You are entitled to the lie you had before that shot was hit, and that's all will was trying to say," Dottie Pepper said on the TV broadcast.

List had the option to ask Zalatoris to mark his ball under Rule 15, which states he could have it marked "if a player reasonably believes that another player’s ball anywhere on the course might interfere with the player’s own play." For whatever reason, he chose to hit his shot without needing the ball moved whilst leaving a mess for Zaltoris' caddie and the referee to clean up. The incident took around 3-and-a-half minutes.

List birdied the first playoff hole to defeat Zalatoris and win his maiden PGA Tour title. The long-hitting American moves up to 56th in the world.

Watch the incident below:

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV