Wyndham Clark avoids penalty after bizarre play at Arnold Palmer Invitational

The sometimes strange rules of golf almost cost Wyndham Clark on Friday (March 7). Clark, who led after round one, nearly got penalized after a curious and bizarre situation unfolded during the second round.

Clark's ball rolled into a pitch mark that initially did not seem to be his own. He thought it plugged. Rich Pierson, the rules expert on the broadcast, indicated that it didn't embed and that it bounced and rolled into another player's pitch marker. That would've been a penalty.

In taking relief from it, Pierson believed he'd committed a penalty and would be docked some strokes, but the rules' officials came together and determined that Clark's ball did in fact come to rest in his own pitch mark, thus preventing him from being penalized.

Clark led after a -5 showing in round one as one of just six players to shoot 70 or better. He is currently one stroke back of the leader, Shane Lowry, but a two-stroke penalty, the most common one handed out by the PGA Tour, would've set him back even further.

He's eight below par now, but he'd be stuck at five under, the same score he had at the close of play yesterday, and would be in solo fourth instead of second place had Clark been slapped with the penalty.

Clark said on Thursday of his leading but unimpressive scoreline via ESPN:

"I knew it was going to be really challenging. And although 5 under looks like a fantastic score, I wasn't necessarily trying to shoot that number, it kind of just happened. I was really just trying to keep it in front of me. Any time I got out of position, hit it back short of the green, leave myself into the wind, easy chips."

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of three Signature Events with a cut, but Clark is not in danger of missing the cut now.

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PGA Tour opens up on controversial Wyndham Clark ruling

The rules of golf can be confusing, but they are always pretty intricate. Had Wyndham Clark landed in someone else's pitch mark, he'd have been penalized for taking relief. Since it was his own, a pretty insignificant factor to the overall tournament, he was not.

The PGA Tour came to this decision quite quickly, and they revealed the thought process:

"After reviewing ShotLink video of Wyndham Clark’s tee shot on the third hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the PGA TOUR Rules Committee determined that the ball returned to its own pitch mark, which entitled Clark to free relief."

Wyndham Clark was leading at the time, though he has since slipped a little bit. He is still well within range of the lead, though, thanks in no small part to his ability to take relief on that fateful shot on the third hole.