Whistling Straits - 2010 PGA Championship Controversy

2010 PGA Championship Controversy

While playing the final hole of the 2010 PGA Championship, Dustin Johnson, who was leading the tournament at the time, hit his drive deep into the gallery to the right of the fairway. His ball came to rest in the sand, and he proceeded to complete the hole in bogey to drop into a tie with Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson. However as he left the 18th green, an official informed him that he may have been guilty of a rules infraction while playing his second shot on the 18th hole. It was determined that Johnson's ball had been in a bunker and he had grounded his club, a two-stroke penalty. As a result, he fell out of the playoff and into a tie for 5th place.

Since the bunker lay outside of the gallery ropes in an area where the crowd had been walking, Johnson had not realized that the sandy area where his ball lay was in fact a bunker. Prior to the tournament, the Rules Committee had notified all competitors and posted statements throughout the clubhouse locker room, informing the players of a local rule that declared that all sandy areas, regardless of their location and condition, were to be considered bunkers (hazards). Martin Kaymer won the three-hole playoff over Bubba Watson to win his first major championship.