Another daft golf rule

Sometimes there are hard choices to make in golf, and Jacksonville University golfer David was faced with one of them. He could either take a two shot penalty or go for a swim.

He chose to get wet, and retrieve his ball from a water hazard.

David Wicks marked his 3-footer for par and waited for the other two players in his group to finish out. Crouched on a steep bank to read his putt, he stood up and reached for the ball in his pocket, and he dropped it.

It came off the back of his shoe, rolled off the green, around a bulkhead, and after a brief chase he watched it tumble into the water.

Wicks needed to find his original ball or take a two-stroke penalty. He opted for the get wet option.

“It was warm,” Wicks told Lavner. “Nice temperature. If I had a nice inflatable and a Diet Coke, it would have been a lovely afternoon.”

But it was not to be that simple, as Wicks went on to find 30 balls but none of them were his!

In the end he had to take the two shot penalty, for a double–bogey 6.

He recovered with five straight pars to end his round, and helped the Dolphins force a sudden–death playoff with Northwestern.

With two more pars from Wicks on the extra holes, Jacksonville qualified for its first NCAA final after starting the day six strokes back.

“I was determined to redeem myself,” Wicks said. “I was worried that everyone would remember my college career as the guy who lost us a spot at nationals. That wasn’t the way I was going to go out.”

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