Saturday, May 2 - Still Day 2 of the Men's Big Ten Championship at Windsong Farm. The wind is causing all sorts of playing problems, but my concern about a ball moving on the putting green has (thus far) been unwarranted. However, I just had an interesting ruling.A player's third stroke became embedded just under the lip of the greenside bunker on the 9th hole. He called for a ruling to inquire as to his options. Under Rule 28, he has three options, all of which incur a one stroke penalty.
First, he may go back to the place from which he played his last stroke ("stroke & distance"). Second, he may drop behind the point where the ball is unplayable, keeping that point between him and the hole. Third, he may drop within two clublengths of the point where the ball is unplayable. However, since the ball was in the bunker, the last two options require the player to drop in the bunker as the only option that permits the player to drop outside the bunker is stroke and distance. Thus far, the ruling is straight-forward, but this is where it becomes interesting.
After electing to proceed under stroke and distance, he picked up his ball and started back. It turned out he had played the stroke from only approximately 75 yards away, and the bunker was on his line of play. While walking back, his fellow-competitor raked the bunker and improved the player's line of play. Under Rule 13-2, a player must not improve, or allow to be improved, his line of play by creating or eliminating irregularities of surface. Is he penalized?
Fortunately, Decision 13-4/35.8 deals with this exact situation. It states that if a player elects to proceed under the stroke and distance option (taking the ball out of the bunker), he is permitted to rake the bunker even if it is on his line of play. However, had he elected to proceed under either of the other two options, or if he had changed his mind and come back to the bunker, he would have incurred a two stroke penalty.
Until next time-
Doug
