Jon Rahm incurs a bizarre penalty after forgetting to mark his ball | Golf news

“I can’t really give you an explanation. It’s one of those things that happens in golf. But I never thought it would happen in my professional career.”

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Jon Rahm shot a magnificent 66 on the third day of the BMW Championship, but it would have been better if he hadn’t picked up the ball having forgotten to score it first!

Jon Rahm launched himself into the contention for the BMW Championship title after committing a rare penalty early in his third round at Olympia Fields.

Rahm defied brutally tough design to shoot a superb four under 66 that would have been better had he not completely lost focus on the fifth green, where he picked up his ball having forgotten to mark it first.

Rahm did well on two putts for bogey after incurring his one shot penalty

The Spaniard got his third round off to a great start when he birdied in the third and fourth, though he misjudged his approach to fifth and came within nearly 45 feet of the target, leaving him with a tricky pair of two putts.

However, Rahm let his mind wander when he reached the green and passed his ball to give it to his caddy to clean, only to immediately realize that his poker chip marker was still in his pocket!

“I had my marker in my pocket, and for some reason I just picked up the ball thinking I had already scored it,” said Rahm, who accepted a one-shot penalty before dropping his first putt two meters from the flag, although he managed to hit. the second putt to limit the damage to a bogey.

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“I was thinking of someone else and something else or someone, and yeah, I just picked up the ball without marking it, plain and simple. Once I replaced it, I took the penalty and moved on.”

Rahm got back on track when he drilled a towering 235-yard iron at three feet to set up a birdie in the eighth, and collected more shots in the 11th and 15th while keeping imperfections at bay as he approached two over par.

“I am proud to be able to maintain my composure afterwards,” added the former world number one. “I think the biggest shot of the round was that second putt, the six foot one for the bogey. Technically it helped a lot,” as I could tell myself, I was one under par through five holes.

Rahm’s mistake didn’t detract from an impressive round

“I really can’t give you an explanation. It’s one of those things that happens in golf. I never thought it would happen in my professional career, but here we are. I’ve seen things like that happen many, many times, but we don’t see the ones on the PGA Tour and It is not normally followed by a 66 at this golf course.

“I just hope I don’t lose for one. And if I do, well, it’s very well my fault. It’s as simple as that.”