Friday, October 2, 2009

Ask Linda #160-Penalty for raking?

Dear Linda,
In this year's US Amateur at Southern Hills, during match play, a player lost the hole because his caddy raked a bunker while he was still in the bunker. Why did this happen if there is an exception to rule 13-4?
Lou Lou
P.S. The player's caddy was his father and fortunately the player did end up winning his match.

Dear Lou Lou,

Exception 2 to Rule 13-4 allows a player (or his caddie) to smooth the sand after making the stroke, even though the ball may still lie elsewhere in the bunker.

I did not witness the rules violation at Southern Hills, but I would imagine that if the player incurred a loss of hole penalty, then the caddie must have raked the sand prior to the player making his shot.

Linda

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