NEWS
7 of the top animal encounters we’ve seen on the golf course
It may have been the day after Father’s Day, but Dylan Block did his dad, Michael, a huge solid at the PGA Professional Championship on Monday.
The elder Block’s ball landed in a burrow. Dylan was caddying for his dad and reached his entire arm into the burrow to retrieve the ball. Block would go onto birdie the hole and said “I would not be making the cut right now if that didn’t happen,” in a post-round interview.
It makes sense that the Blocks would go to extreme lengths to preserve their PPC stay. Michael played in the first two rounds of the U.S. Open on Thursday and Friday. He missed the cut, flew across the country to California, and slid right into PPC action.
Check out the full sequence with commentary from father and son:
What just happened? Free relief for a burrowing animal hole, a courageous son and a miraculous birdie is what just happened. #PGAProChamp pic.twitter.com/rm5yWXOStj
— PGA of America (@PGA) June 19, 2018
Here's the rule on this:
Interference by an abnormal ground condition occurs when a ball lies in or touches the condition or when the condition interferes with the player’s stance or the area of his intended swing. If the player’s ball lies on the putting green, interference also occurs if an abnormal ground condition on the putting green intervenes on his line of putt. Otherwise, intervention on the line of play is not, of itself, interference under this Rule. ....Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an abnormal ground condition....
What qualifies as an “abnormal ground condition,” you may be wondering?
An “abnormal ground condition” is any casual water, ground under repair or hole, cast or runway on the course made by aburrowing animal, a reptile or a bird.
Course officials ruled that the abnormal ground condition was caused by a burrowing animal, so Block wasn’t penalized and went on to make a birdie.
MORE: 9 times the golf rules were broken
This brings us back to some of the other top animal encounters we’ve seen on the golf course. A few of our favorites from recent years:
Ants are burrowing animals?
During the 2015 PGA Championship, Bubba Watson had an antimated conversation with a rules official about ants. Specifically, whether or not an ant hill was considered relief under the rules.
Rickie Fowler's camel ride in Abu Dhabi
Here's something you don't see every day. Rickie Fowler did more than walk a mile for a Camel after the third round of the Abu Dhabi Championship in January. He rode one instead.
Shortly after making his first eagle of the tournament, he decided to go for a quick ride on a camel that was situated near the 18th green.
Cody Gribble's gator love-tap
Rookie Cody Gribble decided at Bay Hill that if anyone was going to do the scaring, it was going to be him instead of the gator. Check out how Gribble, winner of the 2016 Sanderson Farms Open, love-tapped the gator's tail and sent the mini-dinosaur jumping into the lake.
Don't try this at home.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 16, 2017
pic.twitter.com/BUumzwPH21
Luke Donald's close encounter with a baboon
Wildlife is a cornerstone of South Africa. Luke Donald saw that firsthand at the 2014 Nedbank Challenge, when a baboon ran down the fairway.
A python at the HSBC-Champions in China
Nobody love-tapped this guy.
YIKES!
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 21, 2016
A 6-foot python was spotted on the golf course before Round 2. pic.twitter.com/CbnkbOPdRh
Spider monkeys in Mayakoba at the OHL Classic
Just spider monkey who is clearly a big golf fan, trying to get a great vantage point of the action in Mexico.