Fans divided after Jose Maria Olazabal accused of performing 'illegal swing' at Masters

An incident on the second hole of Jose Maria Olazabal's opening round at the Masters has become a big talking point on social media, with some suggesting it was an 'illegal' move.

Olazabal, a two-time Masters champion who won the tournament in 1993 and 1999, took an early lead at Augusta after sinking two birdies on the second and third.

It was an impressive start to proceedings for the 60-year-old Spaniard, although a contentious moment on the second hole, a par five, continues to divide opinion amongst fans online.

So, what happened? After his wayward tee shot made its way into the pine straw, Olazabal needed to improvise as he stood next to a pair of trees.

But after taking a practice backswing, his club made contact with a tree and a branch moved, with several leaves being knocked off before he eventually pitched the ball onto the fairway.

Chandler Withington posted the clip of Olazabal's swing online alongside the caption: "Olazabal is currently leading the Masters, but somehow didn’t get penalized for improving the area of his swing on the 2nd hole. Am I missing something?"

As mentioned by Withington in his response to a fan who questioned whether it was an improvement, rule 8.1a of the official rules of golf states that a player must not take any of these actions if they improve the conditions affecting the stroke:

(1) Move, bend or break any:

– Growing or attached natural object.

– Immovable obstruction, integral object or boundary object, or

– Tee-marker for the teeing area when playing a ball from that teeing area.

As seen in the footage above, Olazabal's club makes contact with the tree as an on-course official watched on, but the former Masters champion was not penalised for the incident and went on to post a birdie.

Fans divided over Olazabal incident at Masters as debate continues

Here's how fans on social media have reacted to the controversial incident at Augusta.

One said: "Unfortunately, JMO needs to be stroked. Needs to be done - nobody is above the law," and a second commented: "Yeah that's a penalty. Interesting to see if anything comes of it."

A third wrote: "No black and white answer. It depends. Personally I do not think it's a penalty bc I don't think a couple of leaves is improving the lie, and I think his intent wasn't to improve it. But it's not a clear cut answer either way."

A fourth said: "Branches still there after his practice swing. Didn’t improve area of swing. No penalty," and a fifth added: "I see no rule being broken. But I'm not a rules expert."

After posting a 2+ round, Olazabal said there has been no conversation about the practice swing before his second shot on hole two, according to John Turnbull. Asked if he noticed clipping the branch on his swing, he replied: "No, I didn't notice anything, no."