Hi Linda,
I wonder if you can help with this rules conundrum?
My fellow competitor and I both hit our original balls on a
par 3 into the woods and fearing they may be lost we both play a provisional
ball. My fellow competitor’s provisional ball is poorly struck and also
finishes in trouble while my provisional ball flies onto the green and into the
hole for a 3.
I clearly don't want the original ball found and have no
intention of looking for it, however my fellow competitor does wish to find his
original ball so that he can either hack it onto the green or at the very least
declare it unplayable and return to the teeing ground.
If my provisional ball were teetering on the lip I could
rush forward and put the provisional ball into play by tapping it in. I could
then go and help my fellow competitor safe in the knowledge that even if we
find my original ball it is now ‘lost’. However, I cannot play the
provisional ball again to make it the ball in play because it has been holed.
Do I have to wait 5 minutes while my fellow competitor
searches, knowing that if he inadvertently (or deliberately!) finds my original
ball he is obliged by the rules to inform me and I am obliged by the rules to
identify it and play it, or does holing the ball automatically make it the ball
in play? Or is there some other way I can make it the ball in play apart from
teeing off on the next hole?
I’m sure you can help. Thanks in advance.
Lou from the U.K.
Dear Lou,
As soon as you take your provisional ball out of the hole it
will become your ball in play. The trick is to do this before your original is
found. If your fellow competitor finds your original ball within five minutes
and before you lift your provisional out of the hole, you must abandon the
provisional and proceed with the original [Decision 27-2b/2]. You might want to
invest in a good pair of running shoes for just such an occasion!
Linda
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