Akshay Bhatia had problems with the trees in the 13th overvol hole in the second round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and decided to take the safe route to the eighth fairway.
The problem was that the eighth hole was deemed to be out of bounds for the team playing No. 13. The rules official approached Bhatia before he could hit his third shot and explained the situation to him. “But it wasn’t like that on the paper,” Bhatia replied to the official. Even the on-air commentator didn’t notice it – at first.
OB’s internal rules for hole No. 13 were actually written at the bottom of the rule card the umpire showed to Bhatia. The left-hander had to repeat his shot from the trees after the penalty and played the 13th overvol pass. He then hit the fairway metal from 10 feet, but two-putted for a double bogey.
The DP World Tour team posted a series of events on their Instagram page:
Bhatia, who started play on the back nine on Friday, finished with a birdie for a 1-for-73, moving him to 2-under par and 10 off the 36-hole lead.
