Two separate rule dramas broke out on day one of the Masters with Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa the subject of eyebrow-raising moments.
Twitter sleuths questioned if two-time major winner Morikawa was guilty of incorrectly marking his ball during his round, while it was Koepka’s caddie who caused the biggest stir after an incident on the 15th hole.
Vision showed Koepka’s caddie mouthing the word ‘five’ after his player hit a five-iron into the green.
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The word appeared to be mouthed in the direction of the caddie for his playing partner Gary Woodland.
If so, that would be a breach of the rules which state that no player or caddie can give, or seek advice, from a competitor.
The penalty for a breach of that rule is two shots.
Koepka ended the day in a tie for the lead at seven-under.
The Masters Tournament Committee spotted the moment and conducted an investigation which included speaking to the members of the playing group.
A notice from the committee said: “All involved were adamant that no advice was given or requested.”
As a result, no penalty was handed out — but not everyone is convinced the right call was made.
“It’s very obvious,” former pro and analyst Paul McGinley said on the Golf Channel. “Anybody looking at those pictures, it’s very obvious what happens.
“It’s staggering that they denied it because the video evidence is there.”
McGinley claimed that it’s “common practice” for players and caddies to discretely share intel on club selections on the course, but said it was a clear breach of the rules that should be addressed.
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“It’s very clear there. Maybe an incident like this where the evidence is so overwhelming, if the rules authority want to stamp it out and come down on this, make an example of it.”
He added: “A lot of players in the field, hands on hearts — there’d be a lot of penalties out there today with what went on in other groups. We just happened to see it (with Koepka’s caddie).”
Fellow analyst Brandel Chamblee added: “It looked to me that Ricky Elliot (Koepka’s caddie) was clearly looking at (Woodland’s caddie) when he said ‘five’.
“It was very obvious that he said ‘five’”
But Chamblee disagreed with McGinley’s other claim, saying: “I played professional golf for 20 years and I don’t remember another caddie or player audibly telling another player or caddie what they hit.”
Koepka was asked about the moment after the round and denied any issue.
“Yeah, we looked at it when we got back in. GW (Woodland) and Butchie (his caddie) had no idea what we were hitting,” he said.
“They didn’t even know because — I know that fact because GW asked me what we hit walking off, when we were walking down. So that’s all I can give you.”
A possible explanation was that caddie was actually giving the information to a broadcaster, which is commonplace, although the footage shows him looking in the direction of Woodland’s caddie.
Meanwhile, another video went viral on social media of Morikawa marking his ball, and then moving his marker closer.
“Yeah, the ball moved, and then I moved it back,” he said, denying any foul play. “Pretty standard now. Pretty routine in our rules book thankfully.”
According to the rules, a ball that has moved must be replaced back to its original location.
Nonetheless, the moment blew up on social media, which led to questions being aimed at Morikawa after play.
“With the marker like this far behind. Because I threw it down because I was going to throw the marker back,” he said.
“I’m not fine. There’s no rules official. You guys are freaking me out here. I’m going to get hunted down.”
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