Arguably, the most-debated rule in golf involves whether a player deserves free relief from a divot in the fairway. Those in favour of that point out that a golfer shouldn’t be penalised for hitting a good shot. Those against fall back on the game’s “PLAY IT AS IT LIES” mantra.

Up to this point, the latter group has won out. But we’d be interested to hear Ryan Palmer’s vote on the matter after what happened to him on Thursday.

Playing in the opening round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, the four-time PGA Tour winner striped a drive down the middle on Port Royal Golf Club’s par-4 12th only to discover his golf ball had settled into a divot. And when we say settled, we mean this thing really sat down and got comfortable in one.

Paul Hodowanic of PGATour.com snapped these screenshots of the all-time nasty break:

Woof, that’s rough. He almost needed a shovel to dig down to hit that. Usually, you at least have some room around the perimeter to work with (Read Butch Harmon’s tips for hitting out of a divot here), but that is almost a perfect golf-ball-sized divot. And a deep one at that.

Not surprisingly, Palmer missed the green with his approach shot. However, he was able to get up and down and save par. A tip of the cap to you, Ryan. Way to battle.

Still, that’s not the kind of situation you ever want to find yourself in—especially during one of the final two PGA Tour events of the year as players are jockeying to maintain their tour cards for next season. At least, until enough people vote for this rule to be changed.

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