Pro Golfer's Putt Dropped in, Just Not Fast Enough

Austin Eckroat appeared to sink a 20-foot birdie putt in dramatic, almost comical, fashion on Sunday at the Players Championship in Florida. But it ended up being for naught because of an obscure PGA rule—the ball hung on the lip of the hole too long.

• The putt: Watch it here. The ball takes its sweet time dropping into the 11th hole, recounts Golf Digest.

• The time: After the putt, Eckroat and playing partner Joel Dahmen walked to the hole, watching and wondering whether the ball would drop. It did, much to the delight of the crowd, about 40 seconds later, per CNN.
• The rule: Alas, Eckroat ran afoul of Rule 13.3a, as quoted by Golf.com: "If any part of a player's ball overhangs the lip of the hole: the player is allowed a reasonable time to reach the hole and ten more seconds to wait to see whether the ball will fall into the hole." In this case, it wasn't close, and Eckroat ended up logging a par 5.
• The winner: Eckroat finished well back of the leaders when the day was done, and the penalty didn't have big consequences in that regard. Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, became the tournament's first repeat winner, reports the Athletic.

(More PGA Tour stories.)