What unusual rule incident occurred at the Hong Kong Open? Full controversy explored

The Asian Tour's most recent fixture, the Hong Kong Open, had former Open Champion Cameron Smith playing in it. On Sunday, the 30-year-old golfer was almost close to registering his name alongside past Aussie winners in the competition. If he had won the tournament, he would have joined the likes of Australian legends Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle, current LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, and many others.

However, he eventually lost to the Kiwi golfer Ben Campbell by a margin of one stroke. But, the major issue that garnered most of the attention was a 'rule incident' on the 16th hole on Sunday. Both Smith and Campbell, including their playing partner Phachara Khongwatmai, were involved in a minor quarrel due to the rule.

By the 16th hole, several players were in contention to win the Hong Kong Open. Even Khongwatmai had a chance to record his second Asian Tour title victory as he was leading by one stroke back then. But fate changes over time, as he had a very unlucky tee shot that landed into a thick bush in the Hong Kong Golf Club.

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But, when Phachara Khongwatmai and his caddie tried to address the situation alongside rules officials and tried moving a bush, Cameron Smith and Ben Campbell spoke against their playing partner. They claimed that the former golfer and his caddie attempted to move a branch that could be connected to the three.

Since the rules were against Khongwatmai, he eventually had to accept it as he then scored a double bogey on the 16th hole of his Hong Kong Open. As per Rule 8, "Course Played as It Is Found', especially Rule 8.1," (as quoted by Golf Monthly), the player can not "Move, bend or break" any of the natural growing objects in the arena "to improve the conditions affecting the stroke".

By the end of the tournament, Cameron Smith had slipped to the second spot and lost to Ben Campbell who recorded his first-ever Asian Tour win. Had the rule not gone against Phachara Khongwatmai, he could have ended in a tied joint spot and forced a playoff match against the Kiwi golfer.

Exploring the final leaderboard of the Hong Kong Open

Ben Campbell shot 66-64-65-66 in four rounds to get to an aggregate total of 19 under par. The LIV Golf's star golfer Cameron Smith remained one-shot deficit to lose a chance to win his first Asian Tour title.

Meanwhile, the 'rule incident' victim Phachara Khongwatmai could only manage to hit 17 under par and sat tied for third rank on the leaderboard.

Below is the final leaderboard of the Hong Kong Open:

1 - Ben Campbell (-19)
2 - Cameron Smith (-18)
T3 - Richard T. Lee (-17)
T3 - Phachara Khongwatmai (-17)
T5 - Yubin Jang (-16)
T6 - Miguel Carballo (-15)
T6 - Sangmoon Bae (-15)
T8 - Peter Uihlein (-14)
T8 - Harold Varner III (-14)
T8 - Harrison Crowe (-14)
T8 - Lee Chieh-po (-14)
T12 - Chan Shih-chang (-13) 12 - Itthipat Buranatanyarat (-13)
T12 - Graeme McDowell (-13)
T15 - Jazz Janewattananond (-12) 15 - Patrick Reed (-12)
T15 - David Puig (-12)
T15 - Andy Ogletree (-12)
T15 - Hung Chien-yao (-12)
T15 - Sadom Kaewkanjana (-12)
T21 - Miguel Tabuena (-11)
T21 - Jaewoong Eom (-11)
T21 - Seungtaek Lee (-11)
TT21 - Ryosuke Kinoshita (-11)
T25 - Wang Wei-Hsuan (-10)
T25 - Karandeep Kochhar (-10)
T25 - Prom Meesawat (-10)
T25 - Nicholas Fung (-10)
29 - Micah Lauren Shin (-9)
T30 - Ajeetesh Sandhu (-8)
T30 - Trevor Simsby (-8)
T30 - Gaganjeet Bhullar (-8)
T30 - Pavit Tangkamolprasert (-8)
T30 - Jbe Kruger (-8)
T30 - Matthew Cheung (-8)
T30 - Chonlatit Chuenboonngam (-8)
T30 - Chen Guxin (-8)
T30 - Kyongjun Moon (-8)
T30 - Dodge Kemmer (-8)
T30 - Veer Ahlawat (-8)
T30 - Douglas Klein (-8)
T42 - Talor Gooch (-7)
T42 - Paul Peterson (-7)
T42 - Taehee Lee (-7)
T42 - Zach Murray (-7)
T42 - Scott Hend (-7)
T42 - Ian Snyman (-7)
T42 - Jaco Ahlers (-7)
T42 - Travis Smyth (-7)
T42 - Steve Lewton (-7)
T42 - Kieran Vincent (-7)
T42 - Poom Saksansin (-7)

The Hong Kong Open winner Ben Campbell received a paycheck of $360,000 out of the $2,000,000 prize purse.