Mud balls could be prevalent at the US Open this year. (USATSI)
Spectators take shelter at the US Open, where mud balls could be prevalent this year. (USATSI)

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In a normal week of golf touring pros don't have to worry about their golf balls getting muddy on a drive down the middle of the fairway and knuckling around all over the place when they hit their approach shots. Typical local rules allow golfers to "lift, clean and place" their ball where it was in the fairway in the case of mud on the surface.

This is not a normal week of golf, though, and the USGA will not be implementing local rules at Merion for the US Open. In fact, Wall Street Journal writer Tim Carroll texted a rules official earlier this week wondering if the USGA might make an exception because of how much rain has fallen. Here was their exchange:

"When I asked a senior rules official the chance that provision could be adopted here, he texted back: minus zero.

"To make sure I understood, he texted again: minus zero and added seven exclamation points."

Mud on the ball, which is inevitable when you receive as much rain as Merion has received, can cause the golf ball to fly all over the place out of the fairway and is a pretty unfortunate hindrance when you're trying to land it on greens that are hundreds of yards away. 

Here's Webb Simpson explaining how it works in Golf Digest:

"If the mud is on the right side, the ball tends to go left and vice versa if it's on the left side. Usually if it's on the top or the bottom, it takes the spin off and it just kind of knuckles."

That's definitely going to be an issue as Merion could end up with nearly a foot of rain since Monday; I just hope it doesn't affect the outcome of the tournament.

There would be an outrage if, say, Phil Mickelson was leading by two on the last hole on Sunday and a mud ball flew the back of the green because he couldn't stop it and he ended up losing. An absolute outrage.

It should be noted that if the ball is plugged a golfer may remove it and drop as nearly as possible the the spot (ahem, Tiger).

Justin Rose tells Golf Digest he's not really a fan of not using the "lift, clean and place" rule:

"There are two schools of thought. I don't think the crowd has any fun when we're nearly taking people out off a good shot with a mudball. I kind of subscribe to the lift clean and replace, not the lift, clean and cheat, like improving your lie. But lift, clean, and replace - I think that would be a pretty good rule."

With the USGA during US Open week, though? Not happening.

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