When you haven't played competitive golf in a decade, life comes at you fast.
Or it did for Lee Ann Walker at the Senior LPGA Championship this week in French Lick, Indiana. Walker shot 85-74 and would have missed the cut by a stroke, but instead she missed it by 59.
Why? Well, she wasn't aware of the new rule that your caddie cannot line you up behind a putt or a shot, and her caddie lined her up a total of 29 times before she realized what she'd done toward the end of her second round of competition.
The 58 penalty strokes is harsh. But we won't get as many "golf rules are so dumb" comments as before thanks to the NFL.
— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) October 16, 2019
Most amazing about this bizarre episode is that Walker could remember which holes and how many times her caddie was behind her without her starting the process over. She had 21 violations the first round -- each penalty is two shots -- and eight in the second round before she was aware of her mistake.
Without the penalties, Walker would have missed the cut by one shot.
"What can you do at that point?" Walker said. "It was my fault for not knowing the rules. I don't have anyone to blame but myself. Big lesson learned."
The entire thing is incredible, and maybe most amazing to me is that none of her playing partners on the first day informed her of the new rule. So her 85-74 quickly turned into a 127-90, and that is not a recipe for a made cut at any sort of national championship. She finished 73 over on the week. Next worst was 34 over.
