Dear readers,
I received a question from one reader in the U.K. and another in Spain about Vijay Singh’s drop on the 17thhole of the Honda Classic at PGA National last Sunday. Ordinarily I prefer not to answer questions about TV events, as there is rarely sufficient information to explain unusual rulings. In this case, however, I was able to view a detailed replay, so I will go out on a limb and attempt an explanation.
Vijay’s ball hit up on the bank near the green and rolled into the penalty area across a yellow line. The hole was in a far right location. One of the relief options for a ball in a penalty area is to drop a ball back on the line, which is a line drawn from the hole through the estimated point where his ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area. The player establishes a reference point anywhere on that line farther from the hole than that estimated point.
Because of the extreme-back-right hole location and the shape of the penalty area, back-on-the-line relief was available in the area where Vijay took his drop. You could hear Vijay ask the official if he had to drop right there, and the official respond that Vijay could go back as far as he wanted to on that line. Vijay picked a reference point on that line and established a one-club-length relief area. His first drop, released correctly from knee height, hit and remained in that relief area, so the drop was good and the ball was in play.
If the flagstick had been located on the left side of the green, Vijay would not have been able to drop where he did. His choices would have been to re-tee (stroke and distance) or use the dropping zone (I believe there is a drop area for this hole). It doesn’t appear that back-on-the-line relief would be available for a left side hole location, which would explain the presence of a dropping zone.
Here is an overhead view of Vijay's relief:
Here is an overhead view of Vijay's relief:
Linda
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