Episode 27 – Patrick Reed the Rules

GRQotW Ep 26 Answer: If two balls in motion after separate strokes from different bunkers, hit each other when running across the green, what is the procedure?

Patrick Reed wins under a cloud, but was it a storm in a teacup

Patrick Reed hit his ball out of a bunker short left of the 14th green at Torrey Pines during the 3rd round of the Farmers Insurance Open. He got up to his ball, and proceeded under Rule 16.4 because he reasonably believed that their ball was embedded in the general area. After marking, and lifting his ball to inspect whether his ball was indeed embedded, he then called for a referee to confirm his assessment. However, many people thought this was very well rehearsed act, and that he had created any ball mark that was there, because it was hard to believe that his ball that had bounced, and come to rest in its pitch mark in the thick rough.

Then Patrick has another incident with his ball on the green

During the 4th round of the Farmers Insurance Open, Patrick replaced his ball on the green on the 16th hole, and lifted his ball-marker. The ball was at rest, but then moved. Patrick then calls for a referee. The referee lets him know that because he is on the green, the ball owns that spot. Only if Patrick makes a stroke or takes an unplayable would the ball then have a new position.

https://youtu.be/NhzEBNGi0Mw

Brooks ball ends up in a shoe, but he takes relief and is still standing on a path

Brooks hits his drive into a camera-man’s shoe on the 16thhole of the North Course. This shoe is on the back on a cart that is parked on a cart-path. So Brooks can choose which condition to take free relief from. He can either take relief from the movable obstruction (the shoe), or the immovable obstruction (the cart path). He ended up taking relief from the shoe, and this is why he was permitted to stand on the path when playing the shot. If he had taken relief from the cart path, he would have had to take complete relief from the path.

https://youtu.be/N2yYAbT9vbA

Viktor Hovland can’t get his ball at rest to sit

Viktor Hovland hit his ball left of the 14thgreen during the 4th round, and then took lateral relief from the red penalty area. He dropped and then re-dropped his ball because it never came to rest within the relief area. He then had to try and place it twice on the spot where it first hit the ground in the relief area, but it still wouldn’t stay at rest, so Viktor had to then proceed under Rule 14.2e and place his ball at the nearest spot, no nearer the hole, where the ball would stay at rest.

https://youtu.be/OB-Ck8SrL-M

Background Bingo

GRQotW Ep 27 Question: A player sculls/skinny’s/knifes his ball over the green and into his cart. The player’s all saw and heard the ball hit the cart, but are unable to find it in there after a quick search. Then the player sees what looks to be his ball in the open pocket of his golf bag, just to realise that the exact same model and make golf balls (Taylormade TPS5 white) from the same sleeve are in there. So here is player A looking at three of the same balls, and not being able to tell which one was the one that he had hit from over the other side of the green. What is the ruling?