ORLANDO — Rory Sabbatini withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday. Eight over for the day through 13 holes at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Lodge and Club, he cited a knee injury as the reason he could no longer play.
But apparently, it wasn’t bothering too badly because he stuck around to rake a bunker. Sabbatini, who was playing with India’s Anirban Lahiri, didn’t head in after withdrawing but continued walking with Lahiri and even raked a bunker for him.
“It’s really unusual, don’t you think?” NBC’s Jimmy Roberts asked fellow commentator Peter Jacobsen.
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“In all the years I’ve played out here I’ve never seen a player withdraw and hang out,” said Jacobsen, a PGA Tour veteran dating to 1977.
Sabbatini, in the video below, can be seen limping. But the 2020 Olympic silver medalist in men’s golf sure did a bang-up job of raking the bunker. Here’s hoping Lahiri doesn’t forget to tip his extra caddie.
How good is Rory Sabbatini at raking bunkers? That’s just flawless execution from start to finish. pic.twitter.com/zXsIHvsbbm
— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) March 5, 2022