Golfer Loses US Amateur Match After Caddie Tests Bunker

Segundo Oliva Pinto lost his last 16 match after his caddie tested the sand

Golfer Loses US Amateur Match After Caddie Tests Bunker

A bizarre rules incident took place during the US Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes, seeing a player lose his match due to a caddie error.

Segundo Oliva Pinto was in a greenside bunker on the 18th hole in his match against Tyler Strafaci when his caddie got into the bunker.

His bag man, a local Bandon Dunes caddie Brant Brewer, crouched down in the bunker and looked like he touched the sand.

Strafaci's father saw the incident and called in a rules official, and he was given the hole and match due to Oliva Pinto losing the hole because of the rules violation.

Watch the incident below:

Rule 12.2b states that a golfer or caddie must not deliberately touch sand in the bunker with a hand, club, rake or other object to test the condition of the sand to learn information for the next stroke.'

If rule 12 is breached, the player receives the General Penalty, which is two strokes in strokeplay or loss of hole in matchplay.

“As soon as I get back there, the referee comes up and asks my caddie what happened, and I’m completely shocked," Oliva Pinto said after the match.

"I’m just trying to get this shot near and try and make an up-and-down and win the match. He touched the sand or something, and that’s a penalty.

“He didn’t say anything. At this point, it doesn’t really matter. What happened, happened. He can say anything, but it won’t change what happened.”

His caddie could be heard saying that he didn't touch the sand.

“I was reading my putt and saw him duck down. I didn’t see him touch the sand, so I didn’t think I was right to make a decision on it, but my dad saw it and he’s going to fight to the death for me,” said Tyler Strafaci.

“It sucks that it came down to that because it was a phenomenal match.”

Strafaci advances to the quarter final to play against Stewart Hagestad, who was the low amateur at the 2017 Masters.

Social media reacted to the incident:

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