Phil Mickelson takes the blame for ball blunder

But by the time they walked off the green they were two holes down – seemingly impossible in match play golf.

After sitting out Thursday’s foursomes, Bae, a Presidents Cup rookie, earned a key point in the four-ball play with Danny Lee on Friday, sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole to beat Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker.

Mickelson teed off but while walking down the fairway was struck with the thought he may have broken a rule and consulted captain Jay Haas and a referee, who raised the issue with the rules committee.

“But it’s the job of the player to know the rules, and it’s not the committee’s fault”. Mickelson could have done exactly what he did at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea and been fine.

Bae made a dynamic debut at home in his first Presidents Cup by making a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win a crucial fourballs match that helped the global team win its first team session in four years and pull within one point of the United States.

“It’s the player’s occupation to know the standards”, he said. “It threw me for a loop that we had a one-ball rule and I didn’t think much about it”, Mickelson said before accepting the blame.

That time I hit an entire sleeve of balls into the pond and finished the hole with a Slazenger range ball – was that a violation? In the aftermath of this situation, even those who believed they understood the Rules were left muttering questions to themselves.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – South Korea’s Ha Na Jang used a late three-hole birdie run to take a one-stroke lead Friday in the LPGA Malaysia.

The mistake by Mickelson was not knowing the rules. He had them in the bag because he believed there was no one-ball rule in effect.

Despite being incorrectly disqualified Mickelson was denied the chance to go back and finish the hole. “We still have three rounds of golf to go”. Essentially, the twosome lost the seventh hole twice. The organization simply chooses not to apply it.

“The PGA of America doesn’t have that rule”.

The United States have dominated the Presidents Cup.

The global team made a strong comeback in Day 2 of the Presidents Cup, and that team appears to be in a good position to challenge the USA team throughout the remainder of the four-day competition. Under the rules, he could have continued play on the 7th hole. “It’s unfortunate that they didn’t immediately say that he could have played out the hole”, Haas said. And Mickelson wasn’t bothered that his team had to settle for a halve.

The lessening of the amount of points available with the dropping of two fourball matches and two foursomes matches is being promoted as a possible advantage for the Internationals but history has shown that the Americans have not been too disadvantaged in the early phases of the contest.

“Hopefully gives the guys a little motivation behind us and hopefully press on for the last couple holes”. “I should have at least asked about it before I teed off”. [Johnson] is going to be laying up.

Don’t look now, but Watson and Holmes haven’t trailed in either match over the first two days.

“I’m pretty sure he was nervous”. “Having said that, we are just five points into 30″. The Americans were accused of gamesmanship. If he was trying to get away with something, he would have never brought it up, and it’s unlikely anyone would have noticed.

Looking for proof the incident didn’t rattle the veteran Mickelson?

The match ended in a tie, and Mickelson attempted to get the last laugh.

He also didn’t realize that a match could go from all square to 2 up in just one hole.