Adam Scott says it was “such a silly thing to do.”

He said he’d never done it before in his career. 

He was also wondering what-if. 

Scott had finished his Cadillac Championship third round on Saturday, but a moment on Thursday lingered. Then, from the left rough on Doral’s 582-yard, par-5 8th hole, Scott hit his second shot — then backtracked after he learned that he hit the wrong ball, which is a no-no. From there, Scott took a two-stroke penalty, played his original ball and finished the hole with a double-bogey seven.    

Interestingly, the damage could have been significantly worse. Wrong balls are addressed in rule 6.3c in the Rules of Golf, which reads this way:

“In stroke play, the player must correct the mistake by continuing play with the original ball by playing it as it lies or taking relief under the Rules: The stroke made with the wrong ball and any more strokes before the mistake is corrected (including strokes made and any penalty strokes solely from playing that ball) do not count. If the player does not correct the mistake before making a stroke to begin another hole or, for the final hole of the round, before returning his or her scorecard, the player is disqualified.”

After the 8th on Thursday, Scott went on to shoot a four-over 76, then fired a 71 during Friday’s second round. On Saturday, he shot a bogey-free 66, and afterward, a reporter asked Scott how he was able to rebound from the wrong-ball sequence two days earlier. 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s such a silly thing to do,” he said. “I think it’s the first time I’ve ever done it in my career. That’s probably one of those things everyone ends up doing once. But an odd set of circumstances leading up to me not checking it, which I think I’ve done thousands of times. 

“To take two lumps there was, is tough, especially as you sit here now in the weekend and thinking if you’re two better you would be doing so well in the tournament.”

He then looked at things optimistically. 

“But golf can be cruel at times, and I’ve experienced plenty of other tough things on the course, and you just have to get on with it and do the best you can,” Scott said. 

“Luckily, it was like on the 8th hole and I had the rest of the day to try and salvage something out of it.”  

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