Justin Rose saves par from under fence at Cognizant Classic

Justin Rose saved par from under a fence Thursday, one of the more creative saves in recent memory.

Rose missed his tee shot left of the fairway at the par-4 13th in the opening round of the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, the ball coming to rest under a boundary fence. With the fence featuring a mesh complexion, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist had the chance to employ a bold strategy.

Per the Rules of Golf, Rule 18.2a allows for a player to stand out-of-bounds to play a ball on the course, and a ball at rest is out-of-bounds only when all of it is outside the boundary edge of the course. With Rose’s ball under the fence, not outside it, he was free to play the ball as it lied.

Rose did just that. He hopped the fence and stood in an adjacent backyard – standing out-of-bounds for the shot, with the ball in play. He executed a punch-type shot from 124 yards; the club looked to make impact slightly behind the ball, leaving a divot but with plenty of speed to propel the ball onward. The ball safely reached the fairway to leave a 64-yard third shot. He then pitched to 2 feet – the ball landed inches from the hole on the first hop – and converted the par putt.

Rose ultimately signed for a 2-under 69, five strokes off the lead of Chad Ramey and S.H. Kim at PGA National’s Champion course.

“Not proud to say, but once I hooked it so far left that it bounced off of someone’s roof and back and play, and I made an easy 4,” observed Luke Donald, debuting as an NBC guest analyst this week. “Sometimes you’ve got to be lucky.”

Lucky and good, an effective combination.