Two rules lessons from Saturday's play
By Grant Spaeth
GolfWeb staff
On the 16th hole during the third round of the Masters, the ball of
He asked for a ruling.
No surprise here because he comes from a country with golf rules governed by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
This case presents one of the very few -- miniscule -- differences between the Rules of the USGA and the R&A.
The R&A allows a local rule that permits the player to drop the ball to one side if the sprinkler is on a direct line to the hole, provided the sprinkler is within two club lengths of the green and the ball is within two club lengths of the sprinkler head.
The R&A's position is understandable. On links courses in Scotland, the fringes of the greens often are almost indistinguishable from the putting surface. The shot feels like a putt, and many players use putters from yards off the green. Watch at Carnoustie this year at the Open Championship in July.
So the R&A's local rule seems quite reasonable.
In America, our golf courses often have rough, sometimes deep, within less than two club lengths of the surface of the green. Therefore, the USGA does not permit relief, because the relief might be excessive -- taking a player from out of the rough onto attractive fringe.
Note: Both bodies permit a player to move the ball to one side if both the obstruction and the ball are on the green.
Some may recall that amateur Tiger Woods, was threatening the leaders in the first round of the 1996 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. On the 14th hole he found his ball, which was just off the green, blocked by a sprinkler head located right in the middle of the green.
The ruling was that he could not get relief. He bogeyed the hole. And that seemed to turn the round backward -- he followed with double-bogey, quadruple-bogey, bogey.
There are reports that the two governing bodies may come to grips with this difference and resolve it one way or the other.
Norman on the 12th
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| The frantic search for Norman's ball was unsuccessful.(AP) |
We surely were all dismayed that Greg Norman lost his ball on the 12th hole Saturday at Augusta, Ga., a mere three or four yards off the green.
Lost under the pine needles? Maybe.
But what scared this writer, and I may have rules too much on my mind, was the conduct of Norman and his caddie. Had I been there I would have told the two of them to stop pulling at the bushes, stop poking here and there, stop kicking at the pine needles -- to cease disturbing every living thing.
I would have told them to get away -- let someone else find it.
Why?
Because if either had moved the ball, Norman would have been penalized one stroke and be required to replace the ball. (Rule 18-2)
In such circumstances, I would have strongly urged that only his fellow competitor, Lee Janzen, and Janzen's caddie take all these aggressive actions. A fellow competitor and his caddie are not penalized if they move another's ball. (Rule 18)
And had I been Norman, I might have asked the rules official, in this case Fred Ridley, to do exactly what he did -- scrounge around for the ball. Fred, a former U.S. Amateur champion, was an outside agency, and, had he moved Norman 's ball, there would have been no penalty on Norman.
As I once explained to a golfer, at a pressure packed moment in a major championship, "I do not want you or your caddie looking for your ball in that deep rough. Let the crowd do your looking."
Seemed a strange thing to say. And it evoked a quizzical reaction. But it was good advice. A member of the crowd found the ball because he kicked it by accident. No penalty on our friend.
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