French professional Julien Guerrier had been aiming to land a maiden DP World Tour title at this week's Andalucia Masters, carding a stunning 62 on Thursday and a sublime 64 on Saturday to compliment his even-par Friday.
But as he faced what turned out to be a brutally tough 27-hole battle with Spain's Jorge Campillo at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande on Sunday, one moment shortly after the turn in regulation almost saw his chances of victory immediately go up in smoke.
As the pair of European leaders made the turn following a front nine of 33 apiece, the French player failed to cut his drive on the 10th - a 442-yard dogleg par-4 that was playing as one of the toughest holes.
Instead, Guerrier pulled his tee shot slightly and watched his golf ball sail towards the out-of-bounds markers.
On the TV broadcast, the commentators pondered where the 39-year-old might go from there before being interrupted by on-course analyst Wayne Riley who informed them Guerrier's ball was not out of bounds and it had, helped by a hedge-like cushion, stayed on top of the wall which marks the line between safe and penalty stroke.
Saved by the... bush... 🙊 pic.twitter.com/G7vTs1tBU9October 20, 2024
Sky Sports' lead commentator revealed the broadcast team had met with tournament officials on Wednesday and they had explained that OB was, in fact, the other side of the wall, making Guerrier's ball perfectly playable. The next problem for the Frenchman would be... how exactly to play it.
After speaking with a referee, Guerrier toyed with the idea of taking a drop but realized that would be unlikely to truly help him. Therefore, he opted to chop his golf ball off the top of the wall and back into the rough where he would take his chances on getting up and down for par from range.
Despite the smart thinking, Guerrier was unable to get down in four and settled for what was quite a good bogey in the end, all things considered. However, he had dropped two shots back of Campillo due to the Spaniard's birdie on the same hole.
Remarkably, Guerrier responded with two birdies of his own over the subsequent pair of holes to retake the lead on his own.
Yet, the ding-dong battle turned back in favor of Campillo when Guerrier recorded a double bogey at the par-3 13th thanks to dunking his tee shot in the water left of the green.
While Campillo made bogey before two late birdies, his French opponent continued to make par after par after par, and a playoff was eventually required to split them.
What followed was a joint-record in terms of the longest playoff in DP World Tour history. Eight holes of extra golf along the 17th and 18th resulted in eight pars apiece, before tiredness likely caught up with Campillo on the ninth playoff hole.
Unsurprisingly, a par was enough for Guerrier to collect his first-ever DP World Tour title, and the 39-year-old could look back at his (much) earlier break with even greater fondness.
