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The drama at The Players Championship was not limited to Cam Smith’s adventurous 72nd hole.
The threesome of Daniel Berger, Joel Dahmen, and Viktor Hovland had a contentious disagreement over a drop for Berger on the 16th hole during Monday’s finishing round.
Berger claimed that his second shot crossed over the water near the green, while a “skeptical” Hovland insisted the drop should be further back and Dahmen agreed.
“We thought it was pretty much at the pin and you were hitting from the right side of the fairway,” Hovland said.
Then Dahmen added, “I don’t think it crossed up here.”
With each shot of the tournament being recorded, both sides were calling for a replay as Berger grew more agitated.
“I’m not going to take a drop that I don’t feel 100-percent correct about,” Berger, who was 7-under and four shots back entering the hole, said to Dahmen. “I’m not saying it’s all the way up (by the green), but it’s not back there.”
The argument dragged on for several minutes.
“I don’t have it here, it’s not even a question to me… Zero-percent chance,” Berger said.
“I am really not OK with it being up there,” Hovland said.
Berger eventually relented after rules official Gary Young said the group “would have to decide amongst themselves.”
“You know what,” Berger said, “I’m going to drop here for the sake of you guys, but you guys are wrong. … It’s a wrong drop.”
Berger hit his fourth shot onto the green and then two-putted for a bogey. He finished the tournament at 6-under.
“We try to keep it professional. It’s not like we’re trying to dog on Daniel and trying to screw him over. It’s just, that’s what we believe, and he obviously felt strongly the other way,” Hovland said after the round, according to Golf Channel. “I’m not accusing him of anything. The golf ball is in the air for a couple seconds, so it’s tough to exactly pinpoint where it crossed.”
Smith won the event by one stroke, despite going into the water on 18 and having to recover for a bogey.
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