{"id":637679,"date":"2026-06-14T04:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/637679\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T04:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:00:09","slug":"sam-burns-sparks-golf-rules-debate-at-rbc-canadian-open-heres-why-he-escaped-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/637679\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Burns sparks golf rules debate at RBC Canadian Open \u2013 here’s why he escaped penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Burns escaped penalty scrutiny during the third round of the RBC Canadian Open<\/a> after a rules incident on the 16th green sparked confusion among viewers and criticism on social media.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old American was seen picking up and moving his ball without first placing a marker behind it, leading some PGA Tour fans to question whether he had breached the Rules of Golf and should have been handed a two-shot penalty.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred after Burns<\/a> missed a 15-foot par putt on the par-4 16th.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As he prepared to tap in, Burns noticed his ball had moved from its original position on the green without any action on his part causing it to do so.<\/p>\n

After informing his playing partner Ben James, Burns replaced the ball to its original spot before marking it and holing out for bogey.<\/p>\n

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Clips of the incident (see below) quickly circulated on social media, with a number of fans incorrectly suggesting Burns had committed a rules violation.<\/p>\n

One fan posted: “Sam Burns just picked his ball up with no marker… you need to start stroking guys!!”<\/p>\n

\"Sam <\/p>\n

Sam Burns<\/p>\n

As speculation gathered pace online, a PGA Tour<\/a> rules official joined the broadcast and confirmed Burns would be spoken to after the round to clarify the situation.<\/p>\n

However, Burns’ actions were fully permitted under the Rules of Golf.<\/p>\n

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Under Rule 9.1 and 9.6, if a ball at rest on the putting green is moved by natural forces such as wind, it must be replaced on its original spot before play continues.<\/p>\n

That’s exactly what Burns did.<\/p>\n

With windy conditions increasing late in the round at TPC Toronto, Burns deemed the ball had been moved by the wind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He consulted James before replacing it to its previous position and then continued play without penalty.<\/p>\n

This was all then cleared after his round before signing his scorecard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Had Burns simply lifted his ball and moved it to a different location without cause, he would have incurred a two-stroke penalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But because it was agreed the ball had already been moved by natural forces while at rest on the putting green, he was entitled to replace it.<\/p>\n

Watch what happened here:\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Some golf fans may recall a similar situation occurred<\/a> involving Collin Morikawa during the 2023 Masters.<\/p>\n

Burns recovered from the bogey at the 16th with a birdie on the par-5 18th to sign for a one-under-par 69.<\/p>\n

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The five-time PGA Tour winner heads into the final round at 10-under par, three shots behind leader Jackson Suber as he looks to secure his first victory since the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March 2023.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Burns escaped penalty scrutiny during the third round of the RBC Canadian Open after a rules incident…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-637679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637679","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=637679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}