World No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn chipped on to the green of the par-5 18th hole to about three feet. Jutanugarn moved to the green but quickly stopped as Amy Olson was ready to make her chip shot. Olson’s ball looked to roll away from the hole, but then it struck Jutanugarn's ball and stopped just a couple of feet from the cup.
Olson smiled and bowed to Jutanugarn, then the two made a fist bump while heading to the green. It was this scene that ignited a controversy over backstopping.
Backstopping - the illegal practice of refraining from marking one’s ball on the green in an attempt to provide a “backstop” for another player (inadvertently or not) - is considered as a conspiracy to leave a ball unmarked for the purposes of helping another player. According to Rule 15.3a “If two or more players agree to leave a ball in place to help any player, and that player then makes a stroke with the helping ball left in place, each player who made the agreement gets the general penalty (two penalty strokes).” As the suspicion of backstopping rose, the LPGA issued a statement exonerating Olson and Jutanugarn of any breach of Rule 15.3a.
“Olson quickly played strictly to maintain pace of play, with her ball accidentally striking Jutanugarn’s,” the statement said, as quoted by Golf.com. Olson also explained her side, “We had waited on 18th tee, for 10 minutes in 18th fairway and Michelle [Wie] was waiting for a ruling,” said Olson, as quoted by Golf Weekly.
“To help pace of play, Ariya and I went before Michelle even though she was out. Ariya’s ball was not in my intended line and to help move things along, I told her it was fine. I had never even heard of the backstopping issue as I don’t really watch PGA golf that much and it hasn’t been an issue on the LPGA. My intention was to help pace of play. Obviously, with everything that has gone down, I think we all, especially me, will be more conscious of it and I will have EVERYONE mark anything remotely close to the hole now.”
