As most referees know well, many correct decisions hinge on clarity in definitions.In interpreting Rules of golf, definitions like Ball in play, wrong Ball, Second ball,Substituted ball, Provisional ball, original ball etc often shape correct decisions. sometimes, these definitions overlap. Decisions on Rules of Golf lays down cases and guidelines in determining overlapping cases.Tthe following case study illustrates the point.
Bangalore Golf Club, my Home club, conducts its flagship 4 day stroke play tournament-The MP Davis Cup.The cup is literally made of Gold and is the most coveted by the local golfers. David D'zouza, the veteran golfer, walks away with the cup most of the time.However, this year-2007-after leading by 9 strokes, he unfortunately got disqualified on the 4th hole on the final day under R 20-7c. He played from the wrong place, committed serious breach and did not correct before teeing off from next hole. He took a 2 club length penalty drop under R 28 for a ball lying OB instead of under R 27-1- stroke and distance . This left the field open for other lesser mortals.
Sathya prasad, one of the contenders, at he time of submitting the cards, reported the following facts:
His tee shot on the 17th landed in the woods.He went forward and searched for his ball for 3 minutes,asked others to continue the search and went back to the tee box declaring he is playing a provisional ball!.After playing the substituted ball, he then found his original ball within the 5 minute search period.As he was not sure about his rights, he declared the original ball as his second ball UNDER R 3-3 and the second ball ball to count, if rules permit. He holed out with both balls- scoring 3 with the substituted ball and 5 with the original ball declared as his second Ball.
Decision: As the referee in charge, I gave the following decision:
When he substituted his original ball and played a stroke, he has invoked R 27-1 and the substituted ball has become the Ball in play, in spite of his invalid declaration as provisional ball.Later, when he found the original ball, that ball was no longer a ball in Play and is technically a wrong ball by definition. Now, when he invoked R 3-3, can he declare the wrong Ball as his second Ball? .A second ball declared under R 3-3 cannot be a wrong Ball. A wrong Ball is also defined as an original Ball no longer in play as in the above case. Now, the guideline in determining the precedence and which definition overrides is given in Decision 26-1/5. It illustrates that once the player invokes, R 3-3( second ball), and holes out with 2 balls, the second ball definition overrides the wrong ball definition and the penalty of playing a wrong ball is not applicable. Hence, the player was credited with the score under R 27-1.That means- his valid score was 5(3+2) under the lost ball rule R-27-1. No additional penalty was levied for holing out with the original ball no longer in play.
Rules Ravi
