Inhoi Hur’s birdie putt to reach -12 on the 72nd hole of the Maekyung Open on the Asian Tour slid just past the high side. The 38-year-old Korean stood there, hands on his head in disbelief. He tapped in the short comeback putt to remain at -11 — a number that should have been good enough for a playoff.
Except Hur wasn’t in the playoff. The final leaderboard has him at -9.
This is one of the wildest stories I’ve heard in some time.
It started the previous day during the third round, with a heated, nearly 40-minute argument on the 7th hole — one that involved Hur’s wife and backed up the entire tournament. Somehow, in the middle of it all, Hur was inexplicably allowed to play his provisional ball as if his original tee shot never happened.
The confusion didn’t end there. The dispute carried into scoring, where the argument continued.
And then it took another turn Sunday, when Hur played his way into a tie for the lead — until he was informed he would be assessed a two-stroke penalty from the previous day. What followed required security to step in, separating Hur and members of his entourage from rules officials and the other player involved in the dispute.
The hole at the center of the controversy was the par-4 7th at Namseoul Country Club.
It was there Hur hit his tee shot right of the fairway bunker, where it appeared to be out of bounds. After his playing partners, Micah Shin and Woohyun Kim, hit their tee shots, Hur — according to people I spoke with — delayed in playing a provisional before eventually hitting one.
According to multiple people I spoke with, including Shin and his caddie Nick, members of Hur’s gallery were already in the area looking for the ball but never indicated to the group that it had been found. Hur and his caddie, meanwhile, never attempted to search, instead heading straight toward the provisional, seemingly resigned to the ball being out of bounds.
That’s when, according to Nick, a spotter pointed to the original ball in the out-of-bounds area, picked it up, and handed it to him.
It was then that members of Hur’s gallery began yelling that the ball was in bounds, accusing Nick — Shin’s caddie — of picking it up. That claim, according to multiple people I spoke with, conflicted with the spotter’s own admission that he had picked up the ball from out of bounds.
As the argument escalated, a rules official came over from the other side of the fairway and said he had seen the ball go out of bounds. That did little to calm things down. According to Nick, the situation became even more heated when the official pointed to where he saw the ball cross — a few yards from where it was eventually found, though still out of bounds.
According to multiple people I spoke with, the argument lasted more than 30 minutes. One group was allowed to play through while it continued, with two more groups backed up on the tee.
Several people who witnessed the exchange told me that members of Hur’s group directed racial slurs at Nick, Shin’s caddie. Shin said he did not hear any slurs himself, but added, “they said very rude things.”
By that point, multiple Korean Tour rules officials — in this co-sanctioned event with the Asian Tour — had arrived on the scene. They ultimately ruled that Hur could treat his provisional as his ball in play, effectively disregarding the original tee shot — a decision multiple players I spoke with said they had never seen before.
According to Nick, an Asian Tour rules official who arrived late in the process said, “this doesn’t seem right.”
As one player told Flushing It, “It’s fucking bullshit. He basically got a mulligan.” Multiple other players I spoke with echoed that sentiment, expressing frustration that similar situations at past events in Korea have often resulted in rulings favoring the Korean player. One player went as far as to say, “you just know that in Korea, Korean players are going to be allowed to cheat.”
The frustration carried into scoring, where Shin again voiced his concerns and the argument continued. Notably, the rules official who said he saw the ball go out of bounds — along with the spotter who picked it up — were not part of the discussion.
Hur was ultimately allowed to sign for a par on the 7th and card a 69, moving him to T-11.
Sunday morning, Shin and Nick met with both KPGA and Asian Tour rules officials about the situation. The meetings ran so long that Shin had just 30 minutes to warm up.
Hur, meanwhile, came out firing. He shot 32 on the front nine, then birdied three straight starting at the 11th. By the time he reached the 18th, he appeared to have a putt that could win the tournament, with the final groups still on the course.
The birdie putt slid by. Hur signed for a 64 — a number that would ultimately have been enough to get into a three-way playoff.
But before anything became official, Shin and his caddie were called to scoring. There, officials informed Hur that his third-round 69 had been changed to a 71 due to the out-of-bounds ruling on the 7th hole.
The adjustment dropped Hur out of the playoff and into a tie for third.
According to Nick, when Hur was informed of the decision, he stormed out, alerted his family and friends waiting outside scoring, and “all hell broke loose.”
According to multiple people I spoke with, members of Hur’s entourage began yelling at both Shin and tournament officials, escalating to the point where security had to step in and separate the groups.
I reached out to Hur’s wife for comment. She declined. Although under the Flushing Post linked above she commented numerous times including threating to potentially sue. (translated post below)
Minhyuk Song won the event in a playoff.
But long after the trophy was handed out, the conversation wasn’t about who won — it was about a ball on the 7th hole, a ruling few had ever seen, and a leaderboard that, for a moment, didn’t seem to add up.
UPDATE: Rules officials sent out an email to players, which is included below. Credit: Tom Hobbs, @Flushing It
