Hi Linda
In match play, my opponent removes the inside cup of the hole and places it next to the hole (approximately two meters from hole) on the green. He then proceeds to putt (ball off green). The ball strikes the metal cup and gets deflected towards the hole and stops short of dropping. Is there a penalty for hitting the metal cup? The advantage he had was that he would have a 6-foot putt coming back as opposed to a tap-in.
Lou Lou
Dear Lou Lou,
Just when I thought I had heard everything…
A player is not permitted to do anything to influence the movement of a ball [Rule 1-2]. As soon as your opponent’s ball hit the cup liner he violated this rule. The penalty is loss of hole. If this had been a stroke play competition, the penalty would be two strokes. Depending on the circumstances, the Committee would be allowed to disqualify the competitor if it felt that this was a serious breach of Rule 1-2.
Linda
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