Hi Linda,
Par 5, match play, my opponent sent his ball to the apron of
the green. Upon reaching the green he found his ball sitting on a stack of
sand. Not surprising, because the green was hollow-tined only recently and
excess sand has probably migrated down during the occasional showers and accumulated
at that particular spot. He asked me if he is entitled to a free drop and I
ruled that he has to play the ball as it lies. He then speculated that there is
a sprinkler head beneath the sand. I used my club to dig through the sand
to see if there is indeed a sprinkler head and concluded that there isn't any.
He accepted my decision and played a bad shot ending with a bogey for that
hole. Not satisfied, he went back to the spot together with me and we dug
deeper into the sand and we realised that there is indeed a sprinkler head
buried deep beneath the sand – 4 inches. Questions:
1. Any recourse for him under the given circumstances? (My
answer was, ball was played and holed so the result stays.)
2. Assuming he went back to the disputed spot after
playing the ball, dug up the sand, and found out that his ball
was indeed sitting above a sprinkler head, what recourse would be
available to him? (I actually told him that he is not entitled to re-play the
ball from the original spot as it is already in play and that he
would have to play the ball as it lies at its new spot).
Frankly, I was not very sure about my second
ruling and I hope you could shed some light on it.
Kind regards,
Lou from Johore, Malaysia
Dear Lou,
In match play, once the player and his opponent agree on how
to proceed, there is no option to replay the shot. Your opponent had every
right to do his own digging to find out if there was a sprinkler head under the
sand before he hit the ball. He did not, and he accepted the results of your
probing. As soon as he hit the ball, it was in play. Both of your rulings were
correct.
Incidentally, both rulings would also have been correct in a
stroke play format. While stroke play, unlike match play, gives the player an
option to play two balls when he is unsure how to proceed [Rule 3-3], the
player must make that decision before
he hits his shot.
Linda
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