Defending champ Anna Davis looking at potential 4-shot penalty at ANWA

EVANS, Ga. – Anna Davis’ title defense got off to a rough start Wednesday morning at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

According to multiple witnesses following the 17-year-old’s opening round at Champions Retreat, Davis committed two violations on the par-4 first hole in which she lifted, cleaned and placed her ball in the rough, or second cut. Preferred lies are in effect for the first two rounds, but only in “areas cut to fairway height or less,” as Model Local Rule E-3 states.

Players were informed of the MLR implementation on Tuesday night.

Full-field scores from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Davis bogeyed the first hole, but she was later notified by a tournament rules official on the fourth hole that she could be subject to a pair of two-shot penalties, one for each violation, which would make her new score on the hole a quintuple-bogey 9.

Live scoring hadn’t updated with the penalty shots when Davis made the turn in 2 over with two first-nine birdies. She doubled the fourth hole after being made aware of her violations.

There will likely be a review in scoring after the round, though Davis appears to have instead turned in 6 over and dug herself an early hole.