Last week, players had a very tough tournament at the Players Championship. Rain, high winds and a few ruling that were not easy.
KEEGAN BRADLEY
His ball was on the green. He marked the ball but left if on the green. A few seconds later, the ball moved. He discussed the matter with the other players, and everybody was under the impression, the ball had to be put back in place. He went to complete the hole only to be warn he played from the wrong place, and he was penalized 2 strokes.
The rule: A ball that was lifted on a green and put back into play will have to be replaced if it moves because of a natural force (wind or gravity) to another place. The only thing that Bradley did was to mark the ball, he did not lift it. In that case, he should have played the ball from its new position.
COMMENT: We may disagree on that rule, but Bradley must understand that inside 30 seconds, he had a referee available to help him. But he preferred relying on the other players.
PAUL CASEY
Casey was in contention the last day of the competition. On hole # 16, he sent his drive in the middle of the fairway. He found his ball in a hole that was made from a previous group.
The rule: In order to get free relief from an embedded ball, it must have been cause by the player’s stroke. If it is not the case, the player must play the ball as it lies.
PAUL CASEY (again)
On the same hole, near the green, a sprinkler head was on his line of play, and he wanted to use his putter. He was denied a free relief.
The rule: The player gets a free relief for the line of play if the obstruction is less than 2 club-length from the green and if his ball is less than 2 club-lengths from the obstruction. Unfortunately, the sprinkler head was a 2 ½ club lengths to the green.
Graham Cooke
A Ball marked or lifted through the green or on the green should not be back in play until the player makes a stroke to hit the ball. The rules should consider all the consequences and try to remove problems. Consistency is important. If a ball is marked the marker itself can influence the ball from rolling into a pond or into the cup. This should not be allowed as the marker can be involved. Simply use the common sense approach and have the rule expanded to any ball marked by the player or lifted by the player is not back in play until struck. I fought for this change for the greens at the highest level and they finally made changes but they need to go further.
For years the ruling bodies have been changing rules one embarrassment at a time. They have made positive changes of late but the rules still have far to go to make the game fair and the rules easier to follow.
Édouard Rivard
Thanks for your comment.
I agree with you. In January they changed the rule but only if the ball was picked up. They should have made the complete change right away. Unfortunately, there are still too many conservative individuals deciding. Probably, on certain issues, the USGA and the R&A don’t always agree.