A ball covered by a divot and video evidence

Rules of golf decisions in early 2021… First: HSBC Championship (ABU DHABI) last week…

RULE: When a player removes a loose impediment near his ball, he must make sure the ball does not move. The penalty would be one stroke and the ball must be replaced.

Jorge Campillo removed the divot with a referee close by to make sure the ball did not move. If the ball moves, the player must replace the ball.

AMERICAN EXPRESS ( PGA WEST)

Have a look at the video before reading the article:  https://golf.com/instruction/rules/how-matthew-wolff-lost-stroke-rules-video-review/

Many rules were used in that single incident:

In his backswing the player’s ball moved by an inch and the player stopped his stroke. He called a referee, and they agreed the player did not caused the ball to move. The next day, the Committee looked at a video that was not available the previous day and they overturned the referee’s decision. But the player did not get penalized for playing from the wrong place; only for having caused the ball to move.

Rule 9.4: If the player caused the ball to move, he gets a one-stroke penalty and must replace the ball.

Rule 3.3b(3): If the score for a hole is lower than the actual score because he excluded a penalty he did not know about; he won’t be disqualified.

Rule 20.2c: When the Committee is deciding questions of fact in making a ruling, the use of video evidence is limited by the naked eye standard.

Rule 20.2d: If a ruling by a referee is later found to be wrong, the ruling will be corrected.

Rule 14.7: The penalty for playing from the wrong place is 2 strokes. But because the player was given a wrong ruling, he was not penalized for not replacing the ball.