Golfer gets two-shot penalty for illegal equipment in bag as scorecard mix-up causes havoc

Two female professional golfers caused havoc after violating two obscure rules in the final event of the year at The ANNIKA.

LPGA Tour pro Minjee Lee was hit with a two-shot penalty on the first hole after it emerged she had been discovered with illegal equipment at the tournament.

The 28-year-old golfer was deemed to have had an extra club in her bag, which would be classified as a 'training aid' under LPGA regulations.

"Minjee was penalised two shots on the first hole as she had an extra club in her bag, a training aid," Golf Channel commentator Tom Abbott said during the live broadcast of the third round in Florida.

Lee, who had shot a par on the first hole, was left with a double-bogey score of six following her punishment and that left her on the backfoot.

The Australian appeared to have recovered her round on the back nine by putting a series of birdies. But she undid all of her hard work with a double bogey on the 17th and a bogey on the 18th.

Her efforts moved her onto six-under-par with a score of 69 through 54 holes. However, the two-shot sanction left her trailing the leaders by six shots heading into the final round.

Lee wasn't the only player to fall foul of the complex rulebook at the event. Another incident occurred during the same round when Alexa Pano reported herself to tournament officials for failing to exchange her scorecard.

Pano, 20, had been scheduled to play alongside Charley Hull and Nelly Korda, but forgot to swap her scorecard with either of her playing partners in the final group.

To her credit, the American realised her mistake and immediately notified an LPGA official, as well as her caddie and father, Rick. Fortunately, there were no penalties for any of the three players in the final group as the scores had not been signed before submission.

However, the incident caused a mess for the trio, as Pano, Korda and Hull were all forced to make up for their error and arrange the scorecards when the round had concluded.

Former LPGA pro Morgan Pressel, commentating on The Golf Channel, defended Pano by explaining the situation: "What happens on the first tee is that you usually pick your own scorecard up off the table and then exchange it with your opponents," she said.

"Being three-ways, it looks like Charley is keeping Nelly's score, Nelly's keeping Charley's score and neither of them thought that nobody has Alexa's scorecard.

"It's just a bit of nerves maybe on the first tee in the final group, an honest mistake, it happens."