ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A costly mistake on the putting green might keep Cameron Young from making the cut at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.
After knocking his second shot onto the green of the par-4 16th hole, his seventh hole of the second round, Young’s 59-foot birdie putt came up just a couple of feet short. Since Young’s ball was in the line of play of partners Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama, he moved it one clubhead length to the side.
After Fleetwood and Matsuyama each putted, Young knocked in his par putt but forgot to move his ball back to its original position. Young was assessed a 2-stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 15.3c of the Rules of Golf.
“As a result, when he replaced the ball and holed out, Young had played from a wrong place and incurred the General Penalty (two strokes) for breaching Rule 15.3,” the PGA Championship rules committee said in a statement on Friday.
The mistake resulted in a double-bogey 6 for Young, the 15th-ranked player in the world. After carding a 4-over 74 in the first round on Thursday, Young had been making up ground before his debacle on the 16th. After opening his second round with a bogey on the 10th hole, he carded birdies on Nos. 11, 12 and 15 to move to 2 under in the round and 2 over overall.
But the double bogey on the 16th dropped him to 4 over. He made bogeys on Nos. 18 and 4 and another double bogey on No. 6. He was 8 over total after 15 holes, 4 shots outside the projected cut line of 4 over.