Penalty and a Closing 74: Anirban Lahiri Falls From Hong Kong Open Contention to T17

October 25, 2026: Anirban Lahiri went from being a Hong Kong Open title contender to tied 17th in the space of one difficult weekend finish. The Indian golfer, a member of LIV Golf's Crushers GC, had appeared to be one of four leaders entering Sunday. A one-shot penalty was then reported for accidentally moving his ball before a chip on the 18th hole of round three. His subsequent four-over-par 74 in the final round ended any realistic chance of a victory.

Why the Saturday scores differ. The tournament organizer's Saturday report described a four-way tie at 14 under, crediting Lahiri with a third-round 66 alongside John Catlin, Thomas Pieters and Caleb Surratt at the top. GolfMagic subsequently reported, citing golf journalist Joy Chakravarty, that Lahiri incurred a penalty after inadvertently moving his ball before chipping at the last hole. The adjusted third-round score was 67, leaving him 13 under and one behind the other three contenders entering the final round. The discrepancy between the earlier organizer statement and the final scorecard reflects a subsequent adjustment, not a separate round.

Sunday unravelled quickly. Lahiri made double bogey at the par-four first hole. A birdie at the par-three fifth briefly recovered a shot, but three bogeys in a four-hole stretch beginning at the ninth compounded the damage. He eventually signed for 74. His four rounds were 62, 68, 67 and 74: 271 strokes, nine under par, good for a share of 17th and 11 strokes behind the champion. The penalty accounted for only a single stroke; the much larger slide down the leaderboard came from his closing round, and it would be inaccurate to attribute the entire result to the ruling.

What the rules say. Under Rule 9.4, a player who causes a ball at rest to move generally incurs a one-stroke penalty and must replace it, subject to specific exceptions — including certain accidental movements on the putting green or during a search. The event's final public report does not explain every detail of Lahiri's ruling, so the precise circumstances beyond the reported ball movement should not be assumed.

The title and major invitations. John Catlin shot a closing 64 to finish at 20 under (260) and win by five. Hong Kong's Matthew Cheung and Finland's Kalle Samooja shared second at 15 under (265). Catlin also secured invitations to the 2027 Masters and 2027 Open Championship. For Lahiri, the week was a stark reminder that a single rules incident can alter the final-round starting position, but a 72-hole championship is settled by the whole scorecard.

Sources: Official Hong Kong Open final report; organizer's Saturday report; GolfMagic penalty reporting and final scores; USGA Rule 9.4.

Photo: archive image of Lahiri at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston on September 4, 2022 — not the 2026 Hong Kong Open. JazzyJoeyD / Joe Schilp, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.