Viewer E-Mail Loses Florida Golfer her First Major

It wasn’t until the 13^th hole at the ANA Inspiration that word got to Lexi Thompson that a viewer at home had contacted the tournament to highlight a rule violation from earlier where the 22-year-old appeared to put a marker at the side of her ball before lifting it and replacing in front of the marker prior to a putt of less than two feet.

Though this infraction was missed by tournament officials, one pedantic viewer e-mailed in to state that Lexi had breached Rule 20-7c (Playing From Wrong Place). The young golfer was then given a four-stroke penalty which completely cancelled out her three shot advantage.

"It is unfortunate with what happened, I did not mean that at all, I had no idea that I did it," Thompson later told the Golf Channel. "I learned a lot about myself and how much I have in me. I wasn't expecting what happened today to happen and I will learn from it."

Incredibly, Thompson still nearly managed a win with three birdies on the last six holes before missing a 20-foot eagle putt and handing the win to South Korean So Yeon Ryu – who is expected to now move up to 2^nd in the world.

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