rulefan
Tour Winner
A player’s ball at rest may be identified in any one of these ways:See the final bullet point in Rule 7.2. There is no requirement for a player to put any markings on the ball under the rules. A ball is identified if a ball is found that is the same brand, number and condition as the players ball. This will only back fire on the player if 2 identical balls are found.
So, it is recommended to put markings on it, but not necessary under the rules.
- By the player or anyone else seeing a ball come to rest in circumstances where it is known to be the player’s ball.
- By seeing the player’s identifying mark on the ball (see Rule 6.3a).
- By finding a ball with the same brand, model, number and condition as the player’s ball in an area where the player’s ball is expected to be (but this does not apply if an identical ball is in the same area and there is no way to know which one is the player’s ball).
- If only one of the balls is found on the course, that ball is treated as the provisional ball which is now in play.