Jacksonville University golfer David Wicks found himself wading through a water hazard in his underwear on Wednesday at a men's NCAA regional golf tournament, desperately trying to find his ball.
But why?
As the university described later and Golf Channel reported further, Wicks was playing the fourth hole (his 13th of the day) at host LSU's The University Club when he marked a 3-foot putt for par. He waited for the other two players in his group to finish, then, he crouched on a steep bank to read the putt. After he reached into his pocket to grab his ball, the ball slipped out of his hands, hit off the back of his shoe, rolled across the green, over a bulkhead and into a water hazard.
Why's that a big deal?
Under the Rules of Golf, a player is assessed a two-stroke penalty if they don't finish a hole with the same ball they used on the tee. Wicks had no choice; he was going in the water to find that ball.
@JUDolphins Here's video of Wicks looking for his ball. Just talked to him: "I was determined to redeem myself. That wasn't the way I was going out." pic.twitter.com/KoqjiOd2O6
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) May 18, 2017
So, he stripped down to his underwear and started diving. He looked for his golf ball, finding some 30 of them (mostly junk balls) that weren't his. After the allotted five minutes of looking, he had to take the penalty.
Ultimately, Wicks parred his final five holes, helping the Dolphins land in a sudden-death playoff against Northwestern to make the NCAA Championship. The Dolphins won with Wicks' help and two pars, making their first NCAA Championship.
