What's the ruling here?

[sawtooth]

Player tees off in our 3 ball and ball seems to be heading into trees on the left.

Player then plays a provisional.

We then get up to the area where his first ball landed. I get there first and announce that there's a ball here lying in the semi rough. I shout to player to ask what his markings are. He says Titleist 2 with dots, I said no this is Titleist 3 with no markings whatsoever. I pick ball up and show to player and he says no that's definitely no it.

We continue to look for his 1st and a minute later he said ah wait a second that is my ball and he explained that he lost ball in the preceding hole into the water and that he had forgotten. He played a new ball off this tee without a marking.

Its true that he did play and lose a ball in the hole before, and this ball that we found was brand new and in plain site. He was telling the truth and it all added up ( Nobody leaves a brand new Pro V on the ground).

We didn't know the ruling so he did the right thing and played 2 balls. He made a blob or a 4 for 2 depending on the decision. But as it happened his score wasn't great so he signed for a blob.

Begs the question, what is the ruling on this?

 

[Colin L]

He has found and identified his ball within three minutes. You had picked it up but all that means is that he should have replaced it and play on without penalty. Provided he did that with one of the two balls, that one would have counted. As he seems to have failed to report to the Committee that he he'd played two balls, he should have been disqualified. Rule 20.1c(3)

 

[chrisd]

As he seems to have failed to report to the Committee that he he'd played two balls, he should have been disqualified. Rule 20.1c(3)

Even though it was a Stableford and he didn't score on it?

Seems harsh!

 

[sawtooth]

Even though it was a Stableford and he didn't score on it?

Seems harsh!

We would have done that if he had a good score going but he didn't care enough to mention it.

 

[Colin L]

Even though it was a Stableford and he didn't score on it?

Seems harsh!

Rule 21.1c(3) lists four rules breaches which lead to zero points rather than a DQ. and states " If the player breaches any other Rule with a penalty of disqualification, the player is disqualified". Failure to report playing two balls is not one of the four.