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Brittany Lang Wins U.S. Women’s Open after Playoff with Anna Nordqvist

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Congrats to Brittany (“Bethany”) Lang for winning the U.S. Open in a playoff with Anna Nordqvist.  But it wouldn’t be a USGA event if there wasn’t some kind of rules controversy.

On the second hole of the playoff, Nordqvist drove her ball into a fairway bunker.  While hitting a her approach from the bunker she touched the sand as she began her backswing, an infraction for grounding your club in a hazard.  The violation was not noticed until further review with the super-closeup-super-slo-mo replay.  Here is a Vine I found of the infraction.

 

As per usual, the USGA gave the news to Nordqvist and Lang at a time where Nordqvist had already hit her approach to the final playoff hole, and Lang was still to hit her approach. Lang immediately changed her strategy since she now had a two-shot lead.

It would have been nice if Nordqvist could have known she was down two shots while playing the par-5 18th.  Do you think she might have played it a little different?

The USGA should have stopped them on the 18th tee, before they teed off, if they thought there might have been a rules infraction.  You have constant communication with every group, so use it.

Afterwards, Nordqvist was a class act.  From GolfDigest.com,  “Obviously that was very disappointing,” Nordqvist said. “I didn’t do it on purpose. It’s hard to lose that way, but that’s the game of golf.”

Here Is the USGA tweet for Brittany:

During the trophy presentation, USGA president Diana Murphy decided that the best way to get the Anna Nordqvist penalty out of the headlines was to call Brittany Lang “Bethany”.  At one point she turns and says something like “Come on up Bethany”, and you can see Brittany wondering if Murphy is talking to her. Way to go Diana Murphy for making the USGA look completely incompetent.

Congrats to 2016 U.S. Women’s Open Champion Brittany Lang for a stellar performance.