Abraham Ancer Hit With Two-Stroke Penalty After Bunker Violation

After signing his scorecard Ancer was assessed a penalty on the 15th hole at Augusta National.

Abraham Ancer Hit With Two-Stroke Penalty After Bunker Violation

Mexican golfer Abraham Ancer (opens in new tab) has been issued with a two-stroke penalty after the conclusion of the opening round of The Masters (opens in new tab), after it was deemed he unknowingly touched the sand with his club in a bunker.

The location was the greenside bunker on the par-5 15th hole and as a result Ancer's score on the hole was changed to an eight.

Additionally, he had thought he signed for a score of 73 but with the penalty this was altered to 75.

Ancer himself took to Twitter with video of the incident saying; "I was just informed that I have been assessed a 2 stroke penalty for unintentionally grazing the sand in my backswing."

Related: 8 Rules Golfers Break Without Realising (opens in new tab)

After Ancer had signed his card, video evidence was reviewed by the tournament committee to see if a breach of Rule 12.2b(1) had occurred.

After the review the tournament said that because his making contact with the sand was deemed visible to the naked eye, a penalty was assessed. Had that not been the case, video evidence would have been disregarded and a penalty would not have been applied.

Up to that point Ancer had been going steady on a tough first day at The Masters. Two birdies and two bogeys through 14 holes had him well up the leaderboard, and well inside the cut-line before the 15th hole and another bogey coming in.

He now sits ten shots back of Justin Rose who blitzed the field with a 7-under 65. He has a four-shot lead going into the second-round.

In other news big stars Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau struggled in the firm and fast conditions whilst past champions Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth look in good positions to make charges over the rest of the tournament.