Charley Hull and Ryan Evans were playing a friendly match-play round that was filmed for the LPGA star’s Sweet Spot Golf YouTube channel. But regardless of whether it is a friendly match or an official LPGA tournament, a win is a win. That’s why neither of the two gave up on one point, which ended up being a major debate.

Sweet Spot Golf shared the clip on its Instagram handle. The clip shows Hull picking her marker because Evans tapped a one-foot putt before she conceded. Thus, she believes he broke the rule, while Evans says she had conceded, which allows him to do so.

Evans then decides to Google a solution for the debate. He looks for the rules, and Google favors him. He reads aloud that a person can finish the hole in match play even if the putt is conceded. This makes Charley Hull angry.

“If I weren’t on camera right now, I’d slap him one,” Hull says in the clip.

There are two things in focus here. First is whether Hull conceded the putt, and second is whether Evans played out of turn.

Under Rule 3.2b, a player may concede an opponent’s next stroke, a hole, or the match in match-play format. However, the player must clearly communicate the concession. The player cannot refuse or withdraw the concession once given.

The rule for playing out of turn is Rule 6.4a. In match play, if a player makes a stroke when it was the opponent’s turn, the opponent may immediately cancel that stroke and require it to be replayed in the correct order. However, it does not automatically mean the loss of a hole.

Another thing in question was that Charley Hull lifted her marker, which, according to Rule 14.7, leads to a penalty stroke.

While Google had given its verdict, they decided to call Hull’s caddie, Adam Woodward. They mutually agreed that Woodward’s call would be final, which was revealed in another Instagram clip. But the English pro showed her funny side right before asking Woodward to give a verdict. She reminded Woodward about the 100 euros she had given him at the end of last week.

But that had no impact on the verdict because Evans had kept who did what anonymous.

Adam Woodward said that it would be a loss of hope for “the one that tapped it in.” So in the end, Evans accepted that he was one down.

But before Charley Hull’s caddie entered the picture, fans started a debate of their own in the comments section.

Fans chimed into the debate with their own points of view. Some of them sided with Charley Hull, some were against her, and some stayed neutral based on the sequence of events.

“That’s rough one but I gotta go with Ryan on this. Sorry Charley. 😢,” wrote one fan who sided with Ryan Evans, while another said, “I’m sorry to say this but Ryan is right😂.”

These reactions reflect how people usually treat very short putts in golf. In stroke-play events, a one-foot putt is a given. That’s why Evans tapping it in wouldn’t be a problem in that format. However, Charley Hull and Evans were playing match-play format, which prohibits this. One reason why fans might have sided with Evans here is that most professional golf events have stroke play. Thus, this practice is normal even on the PGA Tour.

However, some fans focused more closely on the order of play. One commenter offered a more nuanced view. “If Charlie didn’t give him the putt and he plays out of turn and taps it in, there’s no penalty but Charlie has the right to make him play it again. If Charlie picked up her marker without a concession, penalty stroke 🤣,” he wrote.

The fan says that even Adam Woodward’s verdict was incorrect. Hull had the right to make Evans play the shot again, but it does not result in a loss of hole. So basically, both of them could be wrong here.

Some sided with Charley Hull, too. One said, “Out of turn, make him play it again,” and another wrote, “He played out of turn, loss of hole. You were right to pick your marker up as you won the hole.”

While the comments disagreed on the outcome, they showed why the clip sparked such a debate. Some viewed the incident through the lens of everyday golf etiquette, while others looked at the specific rules governing concessions and playing out of turn.