VIDEO has surfaced of Justin Thomas clearly kicking his ball.
The incident prompted Ryder Cup fans to claim the Team USA star had cheated, but it appeared to be accidental.
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Justin Thomas couldn’t get out of the rough on the sixth hole in Saturday’s foursome Credit: Twitter @flushingitgolf
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He apparently kicked the ball as it landed by his foot Credit: Twitter @flushingitgolf
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Fans at home reacted furiously as tensions rose on day two in RomeCredit: Twitter @flushingitgolf
The American was stuck in rough play on the sixth hole of Saturday morning’s foursome along with partner Jordan Spieth, against Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.
Having already seen the disputed ruling go against him with the ball wedged into the thick, long grass, a furious Thomas managed to move the ball just a few feet wide with his botched putt as he failed to get it onto the fairway.
However, when the ball pops up and lands next to his right foot, he clearly lands on it.
And that gets the ball moving again – prompting Thomas to try desperately to get out of the way while waving his arm in frustration.
Hitting the ball with the body is punishable by a one-stroke penalty in golf if the ball stops moving.
There would be no penalty if the ball was still in motion and the touch was accidental.
The player is also not penalized if it was not intentional.
It is not clear whether Thomas told the judge what happened.
Many fans on social media believe that Thomas should have admitted his unfortunate mistake and accepted any subsequent penalty handed out by Ryder Cup officials.
Spieth took the American pair’s third shot from the spot before they eventually bogeyed a six, losing the hole as Fleetwood and McIlroy birdied three.
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Thomas and Spieth went down 2&1 in the match against the European duo known as Fleetwood Mac.
One Twitter user said: “JT just kicked his ball!!”
Another wrote: “Didn’t JT kick the ball there?”
A third added: “Lose the hole for sure?! And he called it.”
A fourth commented: “I thought it was an accident live, but this makes it seem almost intentional…”
There was plenty more controversy on a thrilling second day of Ryder Cup action at Marco Simone in Rome.
Just a hole before the kick-gate, a ‘rattled’ Spieth angrily shot at photographers after a bad shot.
His USA team-mate Sam Burns then clashed with the partisan European crowd as he taunted them after scoring the kick.
Fire Yank yelled, “What’s that? I can’t hear you. I can’t fucking hear you.”
And tempers continued to flare even after Patrick Cantlay holed out on the 18th green to stun McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
That birdie on the par five secured a dramatic one-hole victory for the controversial star, who reportedly refuses to wear a Team USA cap because of the Ryder Cup payout.
The Americans’ reactions to Cantlay’s magic moment sparked a heated argument backstage after the game.
A furious McIlroy had to be restrained by Shane Lowry as he tried to argue with Cantlay’s caddy Joe LaCava, accusing the man on the bag of over-celebrating before McIlroy took his shot with a chance to halve the match.
Europe, however, knows going into Sunday’s 12 singles matches it remains in full control of the 2023 Ryder Cup.
They lead 10½-5½ and Luke Donald’s Roman soldiers know they need just four more points to reclaim the legendary trophy.
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Thomas took a lot of grass with his missed shot, but not the ball Credit: Getty
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Jordan Spieth played the third shot for the US from virtually the same spot as the second Credit: Getty
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Thomas lost both of his matches on Saturday along with SpiethCredit: Getty
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn