Why Luke Donald once received a two shot penalty at The Masters after a patron spotted him breaching the rules

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It is surprising that Luke Donald’s final appearance at The Masters came just four years after he became the world number one.

Luke Donald had a good record at The Masters over the years. It was the only major where he registered three top 10s, while he finished tied for third on his debut at Augusta National in 2005.

Unfortunately for the Englishman, he would miss the cut in both of his final two appearances at the first major of the year – including in 2014 when he opened up with a 79 on Thursday.

Donald had looked set to sign for a 77 before being issued with a two shot penalty following an incident on the ninth hole. It turned out that it was a patron who highlighted a rules violation.

How a patron played his part in Luke Donald getting a two shot penalty at The Masters

Donald had made a double bogey after failing to get out of a bunker at the first time of asking. According to Yahoo Sports at the time, he then made contact with the sand before hitting his next shot.

It turned out that two patrons had noticed the infringement and ended up speaking to an official a few holes later and mentioning the incident.

Donald himself did not initially report the mistake. However, he accepted the penalty after his round without having to watch the incident back.

He suggested after his second round that he had no complaints with the punishment having initially decided to focus on the rest of his round before calling a penalty on himself.

“I was very aware that I did it,” he said. “I had a pretty good idea it was a penalty. But I didn’t want to talk to a rules official during the round. So as soon as I finished, I found Fred Ridley and brought it up.”

Luke Donald extremely critical of himself on social media after his error at Augusta National

While Donald was always unlikely to contend after starting with a 77, the mistake in the bunker did still prove to be costly.

He shot 70 on Friday to miss the cut by just one shot.

Donald took to social media after his first round to criticise himself for the error.

It proved to be an even more eventful week for one of Donald’s playing partners over the first two days, with Bubba Watson going on to win his second green jacket in three years with a three shot victory.