Eckroat, who ranks No. 48 and won his first PGA Tour title, the Cognizant Classic, this month, smiled and waved to the crowd when the ball finally fell.

But under golf rules, when a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole, a player is allowed “a reasonable time” to reach the hole and 10 more seconds to wait to see whether the ball falls. If the ball falls in that waiting time the player has “holed out with the previous stroke.” If it doesn’t the ball is treated as being at rest, and if it falls before it’s played, the player has “holed out with the previous stroke, but gets one penalty stroke added to the score of the hole.” 

Ultimately the ball took about 13 seconds to drop after Eckroat met the ball from its overhang position. As it took over 10 seconds, the ball was considered “at rest”and he was hit with the penalty stroke.