BELEK, TURKEY | When the European Tour tweeted details of Tyrrell Hatton hitting his second shot on No. 4 to within a few feet of the hole in the final round of the Turkish Airlines Open, Eddie Pepperell replied within moments: “Ahhh, that’s how it’s done.â€
This was a reference to Pepperell’s play on the same hole at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course in the third round (having started at the 10th it was his 13th) when, to the astonishment of Martin Kaymer and George Coetzee, his two playing partners, the 28-year-old Englishman hit one shot after another into a lake in front of the green, ran out of balls and walked off. He was later disqualified.
“We thought he hit four or five balls into the water,†Coetzee said, “but we are not sure. He came over to tell us he had run out of balls and walked off.â€
Pepperell had putted with a wedge on the previous hole, which Coetzee and Kaymer had thought was strange. He had opened with rounds of 70-72 and was 2-over par at the time he walked off.
“I have never seen anything like that before,†Kaymer said. “It was like a scene from the movie Tin Cup.â€
John Hopkins
