Dear Linda,
Maybe you can help me with this ruling.
I am an assistant at a golf course in Oregon and am also the
Tournament Chairman for our Men's Club.
I was golfing with a couple of guys in our Men's Club
group who were playing the Championship Match for our President's Cup event
(match play). A strange situation came up between them as we were playing.
The first player, Dave, hit his tee shot, which sailed
slightly right and across the cart path but we could see the area where it
landed pretty good. The second player, Jim, then hit his tee shot in the same
area but we could see that it did not go as far and stopped shorter than Dave's
tee shot. Dave was in a cart and drove up to begin the search while Jim and
myself made our way up there (we were walking that day). Dave said that he had
found his ball, which we knew was further than Jim's, and so we all started
searching for Jim's ball a short distance further back from the ball Dave had
found. This next part is important......At one point during the search, Jim
walked up to the ball Dave had found and replied, "Oh, here's a
ball", at which point Dave responded by saying "No, that's mine that
I already found." We were unable to locate Jim's ball so he went back to
the tee and put another ball in play. After Jim hit put his new ball in play I
walked up to the area just ahead of where Dave had found "his" ball
and spotted another ball. I looked at the ball and said, "It has three
dots on it." Dave then said, "So does mine." Then Dave looked
closer at the ball he found and realized it wasn't actually his; that ball
was Jim's and the ball I found was actually Dave's. Both players just happen to
mark their ball with three dots. We had not looked ahead of the ball that Dave
had found because we could see from the tee that Jim's had not traveled as far
as Dave's, which we were correct about.
So here are the facts:
1- Both players marked their ball with the same three dots.
2- Jim actually did find his ball, but before he could
identify it, Dave responded that it was his ball and not Jim's (this was not
intentional on Dave's part to fool Jim.)
3- Jim probably would have been able to identify the ball
Dave found if Dave had not told him that it was not Jim's.
4- It was not past the five minute search limit when Jim saw
the ball that Dave had found and claimed was his.
5- Jim had put another ball in play after we believed that
his ball was lost due to his competitor, Dave, misidentifying his own ball.
6- Neither play ever made a stroke at the wrong ball (unless
you count the ball that Jim put in play after thinking his first ball was
lost).
I am curious to what the ruling on this should be. This was
a match play event, but I would also like to know what the stroke play ruling
would be (if different).
Knowing both of these players well, I am 100% sure there was
no ill-intent on Dave's part when he told Jim it wasn't Jim's ball. I feel it
was probably ultimately Jim's fault for not looking at the ball Dave found and
correcting Dave about the mistake, but when a fellow player tells you it's his
ball and verbally "denies" you the opportunity to make the proper
identification, as Dave did, because you don't believe he'd "trick"
you, then what is the proper action?
The outcome of this was that Dave apologized when he
realized his mistake had caused the confusion and allowed Jim to play his ball
and then Dave played his (Jim won the hole and ultimately the match.)
Please reply if you can come up with an answer for me.
Thank You,
Lou from Oregon
Dear Lou,
Let’s get right to the heart of the matter. Jim had every
opportunity to identify his ball. Dave stating that the ball was his does not change
that fact. Considering that both players used identical markings on their
balls, there was all the more reason for Jim to take a look at the ball Dave
thought was his. (I feel compelled to add that both players should have known
their markings were identical, and one of them should have taken the precaution
to change his identifying mark back on the first tee.)
When Jim went back to the tee and played another ball under
stroke and distance, that ball became the ball in play and the original was
lost [Definition of “Lost Ball”]. When he abandoned his ball in play and played
the original ball, he played a wrong ball and, in match play, he lost the hole
[Rule 15-3a]. However, since neither the players nor their marker were aware
that a Rule had been breached, and no claim was filed, the result of the hole
stands.
In stroke play, the player incurs a one-stroke penalty for
lifting his ball in play (the second ball he hit from the tee), and an
additional two-stroke penalty for hitting a wrong ball [Rule 15-3b; Decision
15/5]. He must correct his mistake by replacing and continuing play with the
correct ball (the second ball he hit from the tee). If he does not correct the
mistake before teeing off on the next hole, he is disqualified. None of the
strokes made with the wrong ball will count in his score.
By coincidence, I competed in the finals of my club’s
President’s Cup (match play) last week. On the first tee, I asked the other two
players (my opponent and an additional player serving as marker) to identify
their balls. My ball was the same brand as the marker’s, so we reviewed our
markings (which were different) and I suggested that we be very careful during
the round to make sure the ball we were about to hit was ours. My opponent’s
ball was a different color and unmarked. I encouraged her to mark it (which she
did), reminding her that while there would be no confusion with my ball (which
was white), she might encounter an unmarked stray ball of the same brand,
color, and number out on the golf course and would be unable to distinguish her
own from the stray. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Linda
Copyright © 2016 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
