The match was slipping away and Brooks Koepka’s fragile wrist was at risk.
Ryder Cup officials didn’t much care about any of that Saturday when they ruled against him, refusing to grant Koepka relief from an awkward lie near a drain on the 15th hole.
Koepka and his partner, Daniel Berger, argued with a pair of rules officials that a drain placed near a bunker to the right of the fairway would interfere with Koepka’s downswing — an issue that put Koepka at increased risk because he has been dealing with a wrist injury.
Earlier this month, he was forced to withdraw from the Tour Championship after hitting into a tree root he could not see at East Lake. This time, with the obstruction in plain view, he didn’t want a repeat.