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Day 1 of the 2023 Masters saw Brooks Koepka share the lead with Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm. As the LIV golfer played an opening-round 65 at Augusta National Golf Club, his caddie Ricky Elliott landed himself in trouble with a rule violation accusation. However, he was soon set free as the accusations were found baseless.
Koepka’s caddie was noted and investigated by the Masters Tournament Committee for an alleged violation of Rule 10-2a. The incident took place on the par-5 15th hole where Koepka was hitting his tee shot alongside Gary Woodland. According to the accusations, Elliott appeared to say “five” in the direction of Woodland’s caddie, Brennan Little, ahead of the golfer’s second shot.
In the video evidence, Elliott looked like he revealed to Woodland’s caddie that Koepka had hit a 5-iron. This would’ve been a breach of the rules by the caddie, who has been on the bag for all four of Koepka’s major championship wins, including his recent LIV Golf event win. However, the Masters Tournament Committee soon released a statement that “there was no breach of the rules” after questioning the people involved.
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The Committee said in a release, as quoted by Golfweek:
“Following the completion of Brooks Koepka’s round, the committee questioned his caddie and others in the group about a possible incident on No. 15. All involved were adamant that no advice was given or requested. Consequently, the committee determined that there was no breach of the rules.”
It is pertinent to note that Brooks Koepka’s 65 would have been turned into a 67 if his caddie was found to have violated the rule. For the unversed, two strokes is the penalty for the breach of Rule 10-2a, which states that a player (caddies are an extension of players) must not “give or ask advice to anyone in the competition who is playing on the course” during the round. Players should also not touch another player’s equipment to learn information during the game.
Brooks Koepka defends caddie amid Masters Committee investigation
Despite the tense situation, Koepka came out to defend his caddie on Thursday. Addressing the event in his Masters post-round press conference, the LIV player said that Woodland and his caddie “had no idea” that Koepka was hitting and it shouldn’t have been an issue.
Explaining what happened on the pitch, Koepka said, as quoted by Golfweek:
“Yeah, we looked at it when we got back in. GW (Gary Woodland) and Butchie (Brennan Little) had no idea what we were hitting; they didn’t even know because — I know that fact because GW asked me what we hit walking off, when we were walking down. So that’s all I can give you.”
It is pertinent to note that Woodland and his caddie would have also received a two-stroke penalty if the Masters Committee proved that they asked for information from Elliott.
