A 16 year old golf player in his first US Amateur appearance was penalized one shot which lead to his one shot defeat in a sudden death match play round 19.

Briefly : Akshay Bhatia’s caddie had to use the rest room. Due to this brief delay, AB’s caddie got anxious and requested and received a cart ride from a USGA volunteer instead of a USGA official. The USGA volunteer was wearing a USGA insignia apparel. The caddie was trying to meet USGA rules for speed of play and trying to hasten play.

This USGA volunteer also gave a cart ride to the caddie of AB’s opponent. Even though the opponent’s caddie admitted that he made the same mistake of getting a ride from the volunteer, Akshay’s opponent was not penalized. So Akshay Bhatia’s caddie reasonably assumed that this cart driver was an official USGA personnel when he requested the ride. 

Despite this unfair one stroke penalty on the entire match not the specific hole, the 16 year old golfer Akshay Bhatia, fought to the very end. He took this two player elimination matchplay into sudden death, however he lost by one stroke in the 19th hole.

Sign now if you want USGA management to become more common sensical and accountable to its members, players and fans. This is not an isolated incident, USGA has a long record of imposing such absurd rulings and has an Archaic culture. USGA itself has acknowledged this and has declared a new mission to make Golf more accessible and inclusive. Please Sign and be the positive change that golf needs.

USGA has avowed that it wants to “grow the game and make it more accessible and inclusive” this ruling is neither common sensical or fair to a high school kid. This is utterly unfair and goes against the basic spirit of golf. The unfortunate part is that USGA chose to punish this kid for its own short comings. If you are a golf enthusiast and fan of the game please raise your voice against this unfair ruling and tell USGA to make amends that will satisfy the player affected or at the least issue a public statement explaining this ruling and how they will avoid this in the future.

 

Raise your voice to make change happen. PLEASE SIGN.

 

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From GolfChannel.com

“Bhatia loses U.S. Am match after caddie-cart incident

By Ryan Lavner August 15, 2018, 7:21 pm

“PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – One of the hottest players in amateur golf had his U.S. Amateur run end Wednesday under unusual circumstances.

Akshay Bhatia, the 16-year-old left-hander who has been dominating the junior golf circuit over the past year, squandered a late lead in his eventual 19-hole loss to Bradford Tilley in the Round of 64.

Bhatia was all square against Tilley as they played Pebble Beach’s par-5 14th hole. After knocking his second shot onto the green, Bhatia and his caddie, Chris Darnell, stopped to use the restroom. Bhatia walked up to the green afterward, but Darnell asked what he thought was a USGA official for a ride up to the green.

“The gentleman was wearing a USGA pullover,” Darnell explained afterward. “I asked if I could get a ride to the green to keep up pace, and he said yes. So I hopped on the back, got up to the green, hopped off and thought nothing of it.”

Conditions of the competition prohibit players and caddies from riding on any form of transportation during a stipulated round unless authorized.

It turns out that the cart that Darnell rode on was not driven by a USGA official. Rather, it was just a volunteer wearing USGA apparel. A rules official who was in the area spotted the infraction and assessed Bhatia an adjustment penalty, so instead of winning the hole with a birdie-4 to move 1 up, the match remained all square.

U.S. Amateur: Articles, photos and videos

Even more interesting was what Darnell said happened earlier in the match.

“I had already seen the other caddie in our group do it on the ninth hole,” Darnell said. “Same thing – USGA pullover, drove him from the bathroom up to the fairway – so I assumed it was fine. I didn’t point it out at the time because everything seemed kosher. He had the USGA stuff on, and I didn’t think anything of it.”

Bhatia won the 15th hole to go 1 up, but lost the 17th and 19th holes with bogeys to lose the match. He didn’t blame the outcome on the cart incident.  

“What can you do? I’ll have plenty of opportunities to play in this tournament, so I’m not too upset about it,” he said. “It’s just frustrating because I deserved to win that match. That wasn’t the outcome I wanted, but I can’t do anything about it.”

Bhatia, of Wake Forest, N.C., has been a dominant force in the junior ranks, going back-to-back at the Junior PGA (including this dramatic hole-out), capturing the AJGA Polo, taking the Sage Valley Invitational and reaching the finals of the U.S. Junior.”

 

USGA has avowed that it wants to “grow the game and make it more accessible and inclusive” this ruling is neither common sensical or fair to a high school kid. This is utterly unfair and goes against the basic spirit of golf. The unfortunate part is that USGA chose to punish this kid for its own fault. If you are a golf enthusiast and fan of the game please raise your voice against this unfair ruling and tell USGA to make amends by either redoing this matchplay or let USGA give Akshay Bhatia an invite to one of its events. Raise your voice to make change happen.