Lining up his approach shot on the 437-yard 15th hole at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Keita Nakajima swung his club back. On his way down, he let his arms go out wide to completely miss the ball before following the trajectory of the swing to drop the iron behind him. Confused, he looked around, seeming like he was searching for something or someone on the golf course. That puzzled the commentators as well, as they assumed that something distracted him on the course.

The entire episode was captured in a tweet shared by the DP World Tour. The caption read, “Does this count as a stroke?! 👀 Nakajima misses the ball after a mysterious noise 🤔 #FedExOpenDeFrance.” Even though the official account of the Tour questioned it, the officials on the course didn’t bat an eye at the awkward incident. In fact, Keita went scot-free as he repeated the approach shot without sustaining a penalty stroke.

In fact, Sport Life analyst Ben Coley also clarified the situation. He wrote, “Amazingly, it looks like this isn’t counting as a stroke (made bogey, but next go went into bunker then two putts). Rule requires an attempt to hit the ball. Not sure we can say he definitely pulled out of this shot and didn’t mean to hit it. Someone appeared to cough btw.” Giving a clear picture of the entire situation, he summarized what happened in the first round of the 2025 FedEx Open de France precisely.

Whether a penalty stands or not is up to the tournament officials. However, for now, Keita Nakajima has not received an extra stroke for missing his swing on the 15th hole. However, he might be in trouble if the DP World Tour management listens to the fans. Let’s see how the golf community reacted to the Japanese pro’s mishit.

Netizens call for DP World Tour to penalize Keita Nakajima for his missed swing

Whether he hit it or not, many in the golf community believe that Keita Nakajima needs to be penalized just for taking a swing at the ball. As one of the fans said, “Of course it counts as a shot!” Bryson DeChambeau faced an unfortunate situation in The Open Championship 2025. His third shot on the fourth hole of the first round was stuck in the tall grass. He completely missed the ball with his swing and received a stroke on the sheet. If someone like DeChambeau can receive it, then there is no reason Nakajima shouldn’t face it as well.

Someone else also pointed out, “its a stroke. he was trying to hit the ball.” According to the rules, if you whiff the ball with the intent to hit, then a stroke should be added to your score. As Nakajima was clearly trying to hit the ball until the very last second, he should receive a stroke for it.

Interestingly, someone chose to take a dig at the European Tour for the bad ruling. They wrote, “Just when you think it can’t get any more DP.” With the Ryder Cup nearing, the fan must be trying to instigate a reaction from a dedicated DP World Tour follower to start a debate. Judging by the excellent organization of the last two events in Ireland and the U.K., there shouldn’t be any other reason to complain about the European Tour.

A fan seemed upset with the ruling as their comment read, “Golf is annoying, but yeah that counts as a stroke. If you address the ball it’s a stroke.” It’s evident that while Nakajima was taking the swing, he had the complete intent of hitting the ball. Whether he decided to back out of it in time or not was up to the officials to decide.

Shocked by what they had seen, a fan wrote, “In what world does that not count as a stroke! Lol what the.”  Interestingly, the DP World Tour gave a clarification regarding why they didn’t penalize Nakajima for the swing. Apparently, they ruled that it was clear to them that he decided to pull out of the stroke on the downswing. And as per their rules, if the player does choose to change his mind at that point and either stops the swing or misses the ball, then he is not given a stroke for it.