Bizarre incident at US Girls Junior

Elizabeth Moon had a short, very makeable, birdie putt to get into the final of the U.S. Girls' Junior, but the golfing gods were not smiling on her in this bizarre incident.

Moon's was playing the first sudden–death match play hole at Boone Valley in Augusta, and missed on the low side. The ball then trickled about a foot or so past the hole.

The 17–year–old missed the putt, and then pulled it back and tried the first putt again, this time making it.

Her opponent, Erica Shepherd, then said, "I didn't say that was good."

After conferring with rules officials, Moon was given a one–shot­–penalty for moving her ball under Rule 18-2 as it had not been conceded.

“I thought that since I would have given it to her, it would be just fine,” said 16–year–old Shepherd. “I feel awful, and I feel like I lost, and I want to cry. I feel bad for her, but I couldn't do anything. We both tried to get it to where that putt was given to her but it just – it's the Rules of Golf. There's no after–the–fact. You can't.”

“I made my [par] 5,” Shepherd said. “I hit my putt to a couple inches. She gave it to me. She had like a 5-, 6-footer for birdie. And, so I closed my eyes, because I thought she would just make it because she had been playing good all day. When I hear that the ball doesn't drop, I finally open my eyes and she's already dragging the ball back. And, then like my coach was like, 'Did you give that to her?' ”

The harsh lesson from this is that a gimme isn't technically a gimme unless it's actually given to you.

You can watch the whole bizarre incident here:

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