I Beg to Differ
Facts
A recent Four-Ball competition at the lovely HCC found BB paired with JH, opposing Pro KM (on the short end of the draw) paired with Foremost. For Readers unfamiliar with the names, it should be noted that two of the above players really do know something about the Rules, and one pretender lurked in their presence…in other words, an exciting day for F!
On the diabolical Par 4 8th Hole, F and opponent BB found themselves at the base of the steep fairway slope approaching the green (aka, “the JD slope”, in reference to an unfortunate slip and slide only last year … word is, JD is well on the road to full recovery!). Opponents KM and JH were on the putting surface with long putts, with a KM par and JH net par easily in hand, but up-and-down pars by F or BB, stroke assisted, would win the hole.
Both chips shots were rather mediocre, one residing 10 feet directly below the hole, with the other about 6 feet away from the first ball, and about 12 feet from the hole on breaking line. As F carefully surveyed his 10 foot putt, BB stepped in, fiddled with the marker, and began surveying the same putt.
“That’s my putt”, said F. “No, it’s mine”, replied BB. Both balls had been marked, and both players claimed their ball had ended up directly below the hole. KM and JH were unable to clarify the situation, as both had been preoccupied with their own longer putts from above the hole. They both seemed startled at the conversation taking place and both, frankly, seemed to enjoy the budding controversy.
F and BB checked the ball markers that had been used, and both were standard HCC markers, although BB emptied his pocket to show that he otherwise held a handful of Texas Longhorn ball markers of which he had on this occasion failed to use. F gingerly handled the popular silver dollar Trump coin marker in his own pocket which he had failed to use.
F distinctly recalled his chip shot coming to rest directly below the hole, as did BB. Both players recalled marking their own ball below the hole, and not the ball on the longer, sideways line. Neither party was willing to concede the issue.
How is this controversy resolved? Do they flip a coin? Do they both putt from the same spot?
Ruling
Under R 7.2 a player’s ball can be identified by special markings or by seeing it come to rest. A ball marker, by definition, is simply an artificial object which identifies the spot of a ball at rest. Often, a ball marker has its own identifying characteristics, although in the case at hand, the ball markers were identical. With respect to the location of the original balls, both players remembered seeing their own ball come to rest at the same spot. Neither player remembered marking the other ball.
Unfortunately, with both players unable to agree as to the spot at which their ball had come to rest, and with other common circumstances of ball (now spot) identification unavailable (such as witness testimony, or a ball marker distinctive trait), both balls are considered “Lost” (R18.2) with both players required to proceed under penalty of stroke and distance. In other words, both F and BB were required to return to the base of JD Slope hitting their 5th shots … no help to either team in the competition.
F is pleased to give an assist on this Ruling to Reader and opponent, JH. F alone takes responsibility for the Facts as presented.
As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!
Respectfully submitted,
F
2 thoughts on “I Beg to Differ”
I, BM, have also had a “controversy” with JH on this exact same hole and would like an expert (F) opinion on what transpired. Being a cart ate of JH but an opponent in a Best Ball match we had both hit out tee shots to the left side of the hole in the rough amongst the trees separating the 7th and 8th hole. JH parked the cart in the vicinity of where the balls had been assumed to be and began a search for the aforementioned errant tee shots. JH came upon the first ball and announced to me “well, here is yo ball” and then we both proceeded to look for his ball jt with time running out, I said I’d go ahead and hit and then resume the search if he hadn’t found it. I hit (nice shot about 10 feet from hole for birdie ) and then JH funds the second ball but announces that the ball was in fact MY ball and the one he had identified as mine earlier ( and not HIS ) was an error but that I WOULD HAVE TO SUFFER THE TWO STROKE PENALTY AND HAVE TO REPLAY THE BALL HE HAD DEEMED AS MINE)-not to mention the 5+ minutes it took to come to this conclusion. What, Foremost, do the rules and/or the ethics and/or the conscience and/or the inherit spirit of the game and competition call for in this instance? Signed and obviously not forgotten, BM.
The situation you describe is, indeed, a tragedy. The game of golf, akin to other sports can be cruel. For instance, F spent a sleepless night after the top player in college football the last two years went undrafted!
Unfortunately for you, the ruling you received was correct for Best Ball Stroke Play. In a Match Play format you simply would have lost the hole when you played the Wrong Ball first, and yes, the responsibility to identify the ball remains the player’s, despite the misidentification by his opponent.
It is troubling that JH, ‘the Celebrity’, was involved. We will have to keep an eye on him.