Wrong ball question.

[KenL]

Someone on my WhatsApp group posed the following question. Could one of the rules experts advise the correct penalty if there is one. Thanks.

A player tees off and hits it into the trees. The player tees up a provisional ball and stripes it down the middle. The group find a ball in the trees and the player hits it onto the fairway next to the provisional ball on the fairway. On arriving at the ball played from the trees, the player discovers it isn’t their ball. What should the player do and what penalty is there?

 

[rulefan]

Assuming strokeplay: 2 stroke penalty and he must correct the error.
Matchplay: Loss of hole
Rule 6.3(c)

 

[KenL]

Assuming strokeplay: 2 stroke penalty and he must correct the error.
Matchplay: Loss of hole
Rule 6.3(c)

If they carry on with provisional then just the 2 strokes. Assuming the original is lost.

 

[rulie]

If they carry on with provisional then just the 2 strokes. Assuming the original is lost.

It would be the two strokes for playing a wrong ball (strokes made while playing a wrong ball do not count in the player's score) plus the one penalty stroke for stroke and distance (lost ball). The player would be playing his sixth stroke with the "provisional".
Player could also return to the trees to search for his original ball as he may have some of the three minutes search time remaining; time spent playing a wrong ball does not count in the permitted three minute search time.