{"id":529219,"date":"2026-04-13T21:43:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529219\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:43:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:43:18","slug":"masters-star-reprimanded-for-rule-break-after-making-scheffler-wait-golf-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529219\/","title":{"rendered":"Masters star reprimanded for rule break after making Scheffler wait | Golf | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Haotong<\/p>\n

Li Haotong had a moment to forget at the Masters (Image: 2026 Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Li Haotong endured an Augusta nightmare after recording a triple bogey on hole 12 and a quintuple bogey 10 on the 13th hole. The Chinese golfer, who was considered an outsider to triumph at Augusta following his strong showings in the opening three rounds, was grouped with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.<\/a><\/p>\n

He entered the final round inside the top 10 having compiled solid rounds of 71, 69 and 69, which left him starting the day as one of numerous players on seven under par. However, things rapidly unravelled for Li after he recorded a double bogey before following it with a catastrophic quintuple bogey. A difficult 12th hole swiftly descended into a disastrous 13th, which started with him launching a 3-wood from the fairway into dense bushes within the meandering section of Rae’s Creek. His caddie Jady de Beer was forced to wade through the creek to locate the ball amongst the undergrowth. As he desperately tried to get his ball out of the hedges he was stuck in, Scheffler had to patiently wait to play his next shot – he would be waiting for some time.<\/p>\n

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Once discovered, Li chose to navigate his way through the bushes like an adventurer through the Amazon to evaluate his path to the green. Every onlooker observed the Chinese player deliberating to himself about whether to take the shot or not, and were most likely quietly muttering “Don’t do it, take the drop, just take the drop” to themselves.<\/p>\n

Instead, he instructed De Beer to fetch him his wedge, positioned himself across some bushes and attempted to guide his ball through the hedges. The ball travelled 15-feet, deeper, into the bushes, complicating his situation even more. It was at that point he opted to take a drop, to the relief of the gallery.<\/p>\n

However, Li bent down and retrieved his ball, prompting a rules official to rush over in alarm as Li was not within the penalty area when he scooped it up and had, consequently, picked up a live ball. Li was then instructed to head back into the dense rough from which he had just emerged.<\/p>\n

A resolution was eventually reached and Li was permitted to retrace his steps and play a drop. His next shot was a solid one, coming to rest on the dry side of the creek. His following effort, however, proved catastrophic. He attempted to putt from his position, only to overhit it and watch it roll down the slope and into the water.<\/p>\n

Throughout all of this, Scheffler waited patiently to play his shot. Justin Rose was also standing by at the tee-box, having already holed out behind Li and the World No. 1. When Li’s ball found the water, the spectators collectively gasped in horror, while the Chinese star simply stared blankly, seemingly unsure whether to laugh or cry.<\/p>\n

Li had taken eight shots during the period between Scheffler’s second shot and his own birdie attempt. When the ball was finally holed by the World No. 1’s playing partner, the Asian star ironically raised his arms in celebration upon finally putting the ball in.<\/p>\n

By the conclusion of the major, he finished T38 having ended on eight over par by the close of round four. Only Shane Lowry, who also finished eight over par in the fourth round, came anywhere near matching the Chinese ace’s troubling score. It proved a challenging week for Li, who also disclosed he had been suffering from food poisoning throughout the tournament, revealing he had spent considerable time “on the toilet” in the lead-up to the competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Li Haotong had a moment to forget at the Masters (Image: 2026 Getty Images) Li Haotong endured an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[86919,5904,18916,11476,183345,8693,3026,101,55356,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-529219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-augusta","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-golf-section","11":"tag-justin-rose","12":"tag-li-haotong","13":"tag-pga-tour","14":"tag-scottie-scheffler","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-the-masters-golf","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}