Inhoi Hur thought he had the game. He shot a bogey-free 64 in the final round of the Maekyung Open, posted the clubhouse lead, and was signing autographs for his supporters. And then came the twist! The KGA added a two-shot penalty to his third-round scorecard, which dropped him to T3 and ended his playoff hopes before he ever got back on the course. Now, his wife has since gone public, and she is not holding back.

“There was an issue with an unclear ball position, so an official was called. While the player was walking over to confirm, another caddie picked up the ball. The official initially stated that they saw the situation, but pointed to a completely different spot. Later, when the head official arrived and asked again, the official admitted they had not actually seen it,” she said.

“This morning, a report was filed. The person who reported it has not come forward, yet a two-shot penalty was imposed. The player was not allowed to proceed to a playoff and was held back while the competition continued. I won’t accept it. Are they just brushing over the fact that the competition official lied?”

The chaos started on Saturday on the 7th hole at Namseoul Country Club. Hur’s drive looked OB, so he played a provisional from the fairway. A forecaddie picked up the original ball, assuming it was gone, but Hur’s gallery argued it was in bounds. A referee was called.

Thirty minutes of argument followed, the group behind was called through, and the Chief Referee eventually invoked Committee Procedures Section 6C(6), citing conflicting information, allowing Hur to play the provisional without penalty. He made par, signed for a 69, and headed into Sunday just outside the top 10.

Overnight, the KGA reviewed footage. By Sunday morning, an unnamed source had filed a report. The original ball was ruled OB, two shots were added to Saturday’s card, and Hur’s 69 became a 71. He missed the playoffs by two. Minhyuk Song won, beating Mingyu Cho in a three-way playoff.

Players were immediately furious. “It’s f—ing bullshit. He basically got a mulligan,” said one anonymously. “He should be disqualified,” said another. Under Rule 18.2b, if the original ball is found in bounds, the provisional must be abandoned. The correct procedure was to replace the original ball and rule from there. That never happened.

The anger makes more sense when you consider how strictly these rules are usually applied. Recently, in April, Ok Tae-hoon was disqualified from an event after losing six balls on one hole and failing to complete it.

Back in 2025, when Jon Rahm was penalized at the BMW PGA Championship for a ball that moved near his club, officials reviewed footage, made a call, and it stood.

In Inhoi Hur’s case, a ruling was given during the round, a scorecard was signed, a final round was completed, and only then was the decision reversed. To have a penalty applied retroactively after a scorecard is signed is almost unheard of at this level, and that’s what makes this so difficult to close the door on. Golf has seen this before, and the outcomes were never kind.

When the rules get it wrong, someone always pays

At the 2025 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Marcel Siem was disqualified after completing the 18th hole with his provisional ball. He had pushed his drive right, played a provisional assuming it was OB, then found his original ball under a branch, deemed it unplayable, and simply kept going with the provisional. He only realized the error while sitting down to sign his card. Instant disqualification.

In November 2024, Emilio Gonzalez was DQ’d from a PGA Tour event for failing to properly identify his original ball before playing on. Two different tours, one consistent message: wrong process, you’re done.

Lexi Thompson lost a major in 2017 when a TV viewer emailed officials about a missed infraction from the day before. She was handed a four-shot penalty mid-final round, which wiped out a three-shot lead. The incident was significant enough that golf’s governing bodies later introduced rules limiting how video evidence and viewer-submitted reports could be used in rulings.

Hur’s wife specifically questioned why the person who filed the report had not come forward. That is the Thompson situation word for word: an anonymous report, footage review, and penalty dropped after the competition had effectively finished. Golf rewrote its rules in 2017 because of what happened to Thompson. The fact that Inhoi Hur’s case follows the same pattern, eight years later, suggests that the problem was managed rather than fixed.