Bryson DeChambeau had an odd interaction with a PGA Tour official during the first round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Tennessee on Thursday.
DeChambeau’s tee shot on the seventh hole was sent rough. When he went to inspect his ball, he saw that she was sitting near what she called a hill of fire ants. He called rules official Ken Tackett to inspect the ball and tried to argue a free fall under the “Condition of Dangerous Animals” rule.
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“It is a different color,” he told Tackett, according to ESPN. “It is a different color. It looks like an ant hole, or an ant area. “
Tackett explained to DeChambeau that he didn’t see the ants being the color of fire ants. He said to the golfer, “Yes, I don’t see fire ants in the sense that it would be, you know, a dangerous situation.”
DeChambeau then argued that there were two holes for digging animals behind his ball.
“There is something there?” I ask. “What is this thing? There are two of them.
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Tackett was not convinced as DeChambeau seemed to notice a “red ant” coming out of the hill. Tackett said he was not interfering with DeChambeau’s stance. The golfer finished the hole with a double bogey.
DeChambeau explained what he was trying to do after his round. He didn’t think Tackett was making the wrong call.
“That was weird,” he said, according to Sky Sports. “So there was discolored dirt and I saw a couple of red ants there and was thinking, hmm, anthill, I might get something or not.
“I asked him and he said, ‘Well, it has to be, you know, a kind of danger to you.’ And it was just an anthill, so there was only one discussion there and he didn’t think it was necessary for a fall.
Bryson DeChambeau observes his tee shot on hole 17 during the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Invitational World Golf Championship on Thursday, July 30, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee (AP Photo / Mark Humphrey)
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“So I’m always going to respect the officials and say ‘OK, no problem, that’s fine.’ It didn’t help that I had a very, very bad lie, too, with two twigs lodged between my ball. It is what it is.”
DeChambeau finished tied for ninth after the first round with a par 3 low.
