Sahith Theegala decided he’d rather be an honest loser than a cheating winner. In the third round of the 2024 Tour Championship, in an almost unbelievable moment, the 26-year-old had called for PGA Tour rules official Mike Stiller, because he thought he’d brushed the sand during a backswing from a bunker on the third hole at East Lake Golf Club—a violation of Rule 12.2b (testing the sand) resulting in a two-stroke penalty, and a $2.5 million loss despite the video of the incident being inconclusive. NBC analyst Kevin Kisner was livid and demanded that the golfer ask for the two strokes back.

However, Theegala, who ultimately finished third, confessed, “I wouldn’t be able to sleep,” had he not admitted his mistake. Well, there’s sportsman spirit right there. Now, cut to 2025, and there was a pure déjà vu moment. Only this time, it was Min Woo Lee, who had to bear the brunt.

We all know Azalea hole is a picturesque 545-yard par-5 stunner that is 13th in line at the Augusta National Golf Course. That beautiful hole was the setting for an unfortunate incident on moving day for Min Woo Lee, rules officials, and an unfortunate ball roll. Lee tackled Azalea with confidence across the first two days. On both days, he made par and was looking to do the same or even better on day 3. The Australian had a crisp 294-yard drive to the middle of the fairway to start things off and was trying to use an iron to try to make the green and gain a birdie out of it, probably.

As he took out his iron to ready his swing, the ball rolled toward him. “Oh, that ball just moved,” Lee told his caddie, Bo Martin, who immediately called for a referee. The official came and Lee explained the situation to him. “I was just about to place [my club] down and the ball moved. I mean, it was like so quick. It happened so quick. I was just about to do that [address the ball] and then I picked up my club.” Lee stated.

The rules official then talked to his tee partner Harris English and his caddie as well as Lee’s caddie. “If you believe he didn’t cause the ball to move, that’s fine,” he told the group who agreed that the act was unintentional. Lee was then asked to proceed without any penalty being imposed. Min Woo Lee went on to make par, ending the day with a four-over 76. But the twist in the fate came later, when the Masters officials determined that Lee’s actions caused the ball to move, giving the Australian a one-stroke penalty.

The official announcement from The Masters’ official X page on April 12 read: “Statement from Tournament Headquarters: On hole No. 13, Min Woo Lee asked for assistance after his ball moved on the fairway. It was determined his actions near the ball did cause it to move and one penalty stroke was added to his score under Rule 9.4b.” Lee, who had won his first PGA Tour event less than two weeks ago at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, had his final score on 13th recorded as a bogey six, and his overall score revised to five-over 77, because of this rule application.

Reacting to the incident later, the 26-year-old Aussie golfer revealed how being put on the clock for slow play messed up his mind. “It was okay for the first bit and then we were on the clock and I think that got to me,” he said before adding, “We had a 20-minute starter gap which doesn’t look good for us. The ‘ref’ said we were one minute behind and then next hole we got timed…Playing Augusta is already tough, we played nine holes in two hours which apparently is really slow. So that was tough and yeah, it just got to me.”

But looks like fans didn’t cut him any slack at all…

Fans react to Min Woo Lee’s mishap

One fan commented underneath the Masters’ official announcement on Twitter, stating, “Same old Aussies always cheating.” The user is clearly not a fan of the Houston Open winner and his fellow Countrymen and could also be a cricket follower. The biggest controversy in Australian sports happened in 2018 when the cricket team was accused of ball tampering during a Test Match against South Africa. The incident resulted in severe punishment for the players involved and an unremovable stain in Australian cricket history. Another fan was also not a fan of what had transpired, with one referring to Lee as “Dr.Cheatin’ski.”

One fan was outright dismissive of the incident, commenting, “BOOOOO.” While Lee might have accidentally disturbed the lay of the ball, it was he who pointed it out to the official, similar to Theegala’s case. There was no ill intention then, and there was no ill intention now.

One fan was quick to quip, “He shouldn’t have used AimPoint.” The fan is referring to Lee’s funny putt to win the Houston Open a few weeks before. Lee used the controversial AimPoint method on a short putt, as a joke to the talks surrounding the usage of the method. The putt did go in, securing the victory for Lee, but his AimPoint callout evoked reactions, including a stifled laugh from the World No.1 Scottie Scheffler.

One fan had a bit of a different reaction, though. The netizen felt sad for Min Woo Lee’s plight, stating, “Aah. Too bad for him.” Lee was not deliberately trying to disturb the ball, which makes the whole situation very unfortunate.

What do you think of the situation? Did Min Woo Lee deserve to be penalized for a stroke, or was it too harsh a penalty from the Masters officials’ side?