Linda, An interesting thing happened on our way to victory during a recent match play. During sudden death as we were putting out, our opponent putted and said she had a six on the hole. Since the rest of us were putting for a seven, we picked up our balls. Our opponent then said she made a mistake and had a seven. How should this have been handled? Would she automatically lose the hole?
Lulu
Dear Lulu,
This is a tricky situation, Lulu. Ordinarily, if a player gives wrong information about the number of strokes taken, and does not correct her mistake before her opponent hits her next shot, , the player will lose the hole [Rule 9-2b, Decision 9-2/5]. Lifting a ball or a ball marker is equivalent to making a stroke.
In your incident, wrong information about the number of strokes taken did cause all of you to lift your balls. However, since your opponent holed out for no worse than a half (she scored seven, and everyone else had a putt for a seven), the hole is halved [Decision 9-2/6].
When a player reports a wrong score that causes her opponent with a chance for a half to pick up her ball, the hole is halved. This ruling is found under the Match Play rule (Rule 2) and not the Information as to Strokes Taken rule (Rule 9). Rule 2-2 tells us that if a player holes out, her opponent is left with a stroke for a half, and the player subsequently incurs a penalty, then the hole is halved. Your opponent incurred a penalty when she gave you wrong information that caused you to pick up your ball. Consequently, the hole was halved and your match will move on to the next hole.
Linda
Copyright © 2009 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
