MashieNiblick
Tour Winner
Yesterday in a medal while I raked a greenside bunker after playing out one of my FC's marked my ball then mistakenly gave me his ball to put out with. We were both playing ProV1's with different numbers and markings but I didn't check the marks when I placed the ball and just lined up the alignment mark. DOH!
On the next tee when we went to tee up I realised I had his ball so we worked out what must have happened. I checked the rules and added a 2 stroke pen as required by Rule 15-1 and signed for the score with this included. FC, who is also a good mate, was gutted but I was having a mare and it only turned a double into a quad so it didn't really matter.
Having got home I checked the Rules just out of curiosity to see if there were any decisions on this, and Decision 15-1/2 signposted me to this
20-1/5 Competitor's Ball Lifted Without Authority by Fellow-Competitor's Caddie Who Subsequently Substitutes Another Ball Which Competitor Plays
Q. A competitor's ball lying on the putting green is lifted by a fellow-competitor's caddie without the authority of the competitor. Subsequently, the fellow-competitor's caddie by mistake substitutes another ball and the competitor plays it. The error is then discovered. What is the ruling?
A. When a competitor authorises another person to lift his ball, the competitor is responsible for any breach of the Rules (Rule 20-1). The converse is generally true, i.e. the competitor is not responsible for a breach of a Rule caused by the unauthorised lifting of his ball. Thus, in this case, the competitor should not be penalised under Rule 15-2. The competitor should hole out with the substituted ball, without penalty.
I assume the same applies if it is FC rather than FC's caddy.
Now I didn't actually authorise my FC to lift and mark my ball but I didn't object and would have said Ok had he asked. I had plenty of opportunity to check if it was my ball when replacing it. So penalty seems justified but on the other hand "rules is rules" (or at least "decisions is decisions").
So a couple of things,
Given the above decision should I have been spared the penalty?
Secondly, I did the right thing checking the Rules which clearly indicated a 2 shot penalty but only the decision book would have told me that I might avoid the penalty. There is nothing in the Rules that suggested there might be an exception and I think you'd need really good rule knowledge to know this decision. As it happened it was of no significance in terms of comp result or handicap, but it might have been. It seems a bit unfair that there's no exception or note in the book to clarify this.
Any thoughts?
On the next tee when we went to tee up I realised I had his ball so we worked out what must have happened. I checked the rules and added a 2 stroke pen as required by Rule 15-1 and signed for the score with this included. FC, who is also a good mate, was gutted but I was having a mare and it only turned a double into a quad so it didn't really matter.
Having got home I checked the Rules just out of curiosity to see if there were any decisions on this, and Decision 15-1/2 signposted me to this
20-1/5 Competitor's Ball Lifted Without Authority by Fellow-Competitor's Caddie Who Subsequently Substitutes Another Ball Which Competitor Plays
Q. A competitor's ball lying on the putting green is lifted by a fellow-competitor's caddie without the authority of the competitor. Subsequently, the fellow-competitor's caddie by mistake substitutes another ball and the competitor plays it. The error is then discovered. What is the ruling?
A. When a competitor authorises another person to lift his ball, the competitor is responsible for any breach of the Rules (Rule 20-1). The converse is generally true, i.e. the competitor is not responsible for a breach of a Rule caused by the unauthorised lifting of his ball. Thus, in this case, the competitor should not be penalised under Rule 15-2. The competitor should hole out with the substituted ball, without penalty.
I assume the same applies if it is FC rather than FC's caddy.
Now I didn't actually authorise my FC to lift and mark my ball but I didn't object and would have said Ok had he asked. I had plenty of opportunity to check if it was my ball when replacing it. So penalty seems justified but on the other hand "rules is rules" (or at least "decisions is decisions").
So a couple of things,
Given the above decision should I have been spared the penalty?
Secondly, I did the right thing checking the Rules which clearly indicated a 2 shot penalty but only the decision book would have told me that I might avoid the penalty. There is nothing in the Rules that suggested there might be an exception and I think you'd need really good rule knowledge to know this decision. As it happened it was of no significance in terms of comp result or handicap, but it might have been. It seems a bit unfair that there's no exception or note in the book to clarify this.
Any thoughts?
