Fort Worth, Texas — It was supposed to be a Sunday stroll down the 18th fairway for Zach Johnson. Up three shots over Jason Dufner with his ball sitting in the greenside bunker, all one of the best short game players on the PGA Tour had to do was avoid leaving it in the sand and he'd be the Crowne Plaza Invitational champion.
Well, he did exactly that, getting out of the sand before holing the putt for a three-shot win. Or so he thought. As Johnson was leaving the green, he was informed by PGA Tour rules officials that he'd violated 20-7 of the Rules of Golf.
After blasting his ball to within a couple feet of the hole, Johnson moved his ball mark in an attempt to give Dufner a clear path. But in the process of moving the mark, Johnson forget to replace it to its original spot.
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"You can use a number of adjectives" to describe what happened, Johnson said after his round, commenting on his rules gaffe.
Luckily, he had a three-shot cushion at the time, which meant that after the two-stroke penalty he still won by a single shot. We've seen some bizarre rules violations this year (we're looking at you, Tiger Woods), but this one had the potential to go right up there with some of the worst of all-time.
Luckily for Johnson, it ended up being nothing more than a footnote in the tournament's history. And to think, Roberto De Vicenzo and Dustin Johnson were thisclose to getting a new bunkmate.
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