Monday, July 21, 2014

Ask Linda #883-Wrong ball, unknown location

Dear Linda,
What is the ruling when you don't know when you started playing with the wrong ball?  During the competition a player only realised she wasn't playing her ball when she began to putt. What should she have done? Should she have gone back to the tee and taken a 2 point penalty? As it was she disqualified herself because she didn't know what she needed to do.
regards
Lulu from Australia

Dear Lulu,

A competitor who hits a wrong ball must abandon that ball, find her original ball, and complete play of the hole with the original ball. She incurs a two-stroke penalty for hitting a wrong ball. The strokes she made hitting the wrong ball do not count in her score.

If the player is unable to find her original ball (which is a likely possibility if she has no idea where to begin search), she has a lost ball and must return to the tee.

The player’s second tee shot will be her fifth stroke on the hole – one stroke for her original tee shot, two-stroke penalty for hitting a wrong ball, one-stroke penalty for a lost ball.

Linda
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