Lee Ann Walker gets 58 penalty shots for breaking new rule over caddie

Lee Ann Walker received 58 penalty shots in the Senior LPGA Championship as she discovered not keeping up to date with rule changes can be costly.

The American broke a rule brought in this year banning caddies from standing behind players to line up shots.

Her playing partners noted the error on the fifth hole of her second round and she had to go back over her previous holes to tally up her infringements.

“Now that I don’t play the LPGA anymore, I don’t watch golf,” she said.

Walker, who told officials as soon as she was informed of her errors, had 42 shots added to her first-round 85 and 16 more to her second round.

It was therefore no surprise she finished bottom of the field and her two rounds of 127 and 90 added up to 217 – three more than eventual winner Helen Alfredsson’s four rounds.

“This is my first competitive round since 2011 or 2012,” Walker told Golfweek.

“I knew there were rules changes. I just honestly didn’t know them. Just plain and simple. My stupidity for not going over the rules changes.

“I wasn’t mad, I wasn’t upset. I was just like, ‘that’s going to add a ton to my scores’. At that point what can you do?”

In January, China’s Haotong Li was penalised two shots after he was allegedly lined up by his caddie on the green during the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Meanwhile, Englishman Paul Casey escaped being penalised when a putt at a tournament he won by one shot in Germany went over a bug on the way in.

As Casey’s ball accidentally went over the bug he did not have to retake the shot.

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