Australia's top-ranked men's golfer Cameron Smith was left fuming while being made to wait more than 15 minutes due to a rival's bizarre act.
Smith – the official world No.20 despite not being able to accrue rankings points since joining LIV Golf last year – entered the final round of the Hong Kong Open on Sunday tied for the lead, and in a battle with New Zealand's Ben Campbell and Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai.
World No.261 Khongwatmai held the outright lead when the group teed off on the 16th, but it was then that controversy struck.
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Khongwatmai's drive was sprayed off the fairway and into bushes, and he attempted to clear it with his second shot but only made the position worse.
Khongwatmai took more than 15 minutes attempting to figure out his next move, rather than declare the ball "unplayable" and take a drop.
The Thai golfer drew the ire of both Smith and Campbell when he yanked an entire branch out of the way, which pulled a clump of other vines and branches with it.
A rules official was called over but Campbell wasn't happy with the situation unfolding, declaring "I think we need to get another rules official".
"He can't stand all over this, can he?" Campbell was heard on the broadcast asking the official.
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"He's broken these branches here… look at that, these just got broken."
Even the television commentators could barely believe what was happening during the delay.
"The playing partners are clearly concerned," Dougie Donnelly said.
"It's all becoming just a little bit chaotic. There's a lot of head shaking going on."
Khongwatmai eventually played out of the bushes and ended up carding a double bogey on 16, surrendering the lead.
But when the group teed off on the 18th all three were once again tied at the top, and a playoff looked likely.
However Smith's wayward drive saw him card a par, Khongwatmai bogeyed the hold, and Campbell scored a birdie to claim the title.
"Pretty poor over the weekend," Aussie star Smith said afterwards, despite almost clinching victory.
"It didn't feel great, but it was still OK.
"Plenty of positives to take away from it, it was just a frustrating weekend."
Smith will fly home to Australia where he will contest the Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Open later this month.
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