Keita Nakajima was at the centre of a bizarre rules discussion following a rare incident on day one of the Open de France.<\/p>\n
The Japanese player was going along nicely on 4-under par after 14 holes, putting him in a tie for fifth place in the latter stages of the opening round at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Breteche near Paris.<\/p>\n
He was in good shape to improve his position on the par-4 15th, where a decent drive trickled into the semi-rough but left him less than 150 yards for his second from a good angle in.<\/p>\n
Nakajima, currently 17th on the Race to Dubai, stood over his ball and began his backswing, but there appeared to be a noise from outside the ropes as he got to the top of his swing.<\/p>\n
He managed to pull out of the shot just in time … or did he?<\/p>\n
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“What happened there? I’ve never seen that before,” said Mark Roe in the Sky Sports commentary box after Nakajima’s downward swish missed the ball by inches before he dropped his club in recoil and stared towards where the offending noise emanated from.<\/p>\n
Nakajima gathered himself and went through with the shot at the second time of asking, but the distraction clearly affected his concentration and he pulled his approach into a greenside bunker.<\/p>\n
He failed to get up and down from the sand, although he did get the shot back at the 17th before a par at the last closed out a 67, leaving him three behind leader Marcus Armitage.<\/p>\n
Video of the incident on 15 was posted on social media by the DP World Tour, and fans were split on whether or not Nakajima should incur a one-shot penalty.<\/p>\n
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“You can quite clearly hear someone sneeze, twice,” wrote one fan on X. “I sometimes wonder what commentators, in all sports, hear and\/or are looking at.”<\/p>\n
“No, not a stroke. He pulled up purposefully,” said one observer, while another wrote: “He didn’t whiff the ball he 100% pulled out of the shot but just did a terrible job at it and I wouldn’t be surprised if the gets a penalty.”<\/p>\n
But others countered. “Of course it counts as a shot!” said one, and another agreed. “It’s a stroke. he was trying to hit the ball.”<\/p>\n
While fans continued the debate, Nakajima was all smiles as he watched the incident back after his round, seemingly content that he had not been penalised.<\/p>\n
“Swing of the day,” he said with a wry smile, although he did seem a little perplexed at hearing Roe describe the shot as “fresh air”.<\/p>\n
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He then explained that he heard a cough just as he started his downswing, forcing him to pull out of the stroke at the last possible moment.<\/p>\n
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