Quote:
Originally Posted by Ty_Webb
So what's the two stroke penalty for? Sorry for dissecting, but if he played the wrong ball and completed the hole out and teed off the next, then it's DQ anyway, regardless of whether he handed his card in already. If he played his second ball, then there's just the stroke and distance penalty and nothing else, since his second ball was the one in play if he didn't say provisional.
The not saying provisional thing happens alarmingly frequently. A Scottish pro (who I'll not name since I'm not 100% sure it was him) called someone out for doing it in the Dunhill Links at St Andrews, but the problem comes if you don't say provisional and then find your original ball. This instance was particularly harsh because the person in question was Korean and didn't speak a word of English, so didn't even know what the word provisional meant.
That said, I think the rule is a good one. Otherwise, it leaves you the choice of whether to play the original if you find it, which is not right. If you hit a ball in the woods and say provisional, then find your original ball you have to play it and your provisional ball ceases to mean anything at all. If you don't say provisional, then you can't play your original ball. This is the way things should be. Otherwise, you can not say provisional, then either play your original or say that you had no intention of playing the original and play the provisional. The ridiculous rule IMO is that they couldn't adjust his score, but rather had to disqualify him.
I'm not excusing the guy that ratted him out, but if the pro in question is at Q-school, he should really know the rules well enough to know that he should say provisional. The guy that ratted on him should have told him on the hole in question if he knew the guy played the wrong ball, but he does have a responsibility to the rest of the field to say something.
By the way, I'm only saying this because I'm genuinely curious about the situation and how it came about. I'm not just arguing for arguing's sake.
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Well, I'm a little cloudy on the rule itself, but I understand what you're saying and maybe that's what actually happened. I'm recalling this from memory as I read it about a year ago.
As far as the whole "announcement" thing goes, I suppose that in a "crossing "T's" and "Dotting "I's" sense it may have some merit. But since there's no other reason on earth to hit a second ball other than because you think the first one is either lost or OB, the whole idea of "announcing" it seems overly picky.
As far as which ball you play and what penalties (if any) are involved, that's a different story and I agree with you about the propriety of playing your first or second ball and it should matter which one you play. It's just the whole "Mother may I" aspect that seems silly.
-JP