Masters 2021: Abraham Ensor assessed two-stroke penalty after Round 1 for grazing sand before bunker shot

Abraham Ensor was assessed a two-stroke penalty Thursday for what he thought was an early round 73 after inadvertently grazing the sand with his club before making his third stroke from the greenside bunker on hole No. 15. A penalty was given. The video evidence was reviewed by the Augusta National Tournament Committee regarding possible rules violations.

“The sand was considered visible to the naked eye,” ANGC said in a statement. “Had this not been the case, the video evidence would have been disregarded and the fine would not have been imposed.”

The penalty changed Ancer’s Round 1 score from 73 to 75, moving him from T20 to T52 on the leaderboard. After learning of the penalty, Ensor posted video of the incident, where you can see his club barely catching the sand before making contact with his ball.

Ensor, 30, is playing in the second Masters of his career after finishing T13 at the tournament in November. He played the first nine on Thursday at 1 under before finishing with a second-nine score of 4 over.

“Well played. I’m not angry or disappointed,” he said after his round. “I feel like I played pretty solid with the way I hit it. Rolled it pretty good, too.”