D
uring the course of a round of
golf, more often than not your
ball will interfere with the play
of your opponent or fellow competitor on
the putting green. Marking your ball with
a small, flat object, such as a quarter, is
a common practice that every golfer is
aware of. Even the caddie in the movie
“Happy Gilmore” knew that he could
mark his player’s ball, albeit with a round
cracker (which is permitted in the Rules
of Golf, by the way!).
Rule 16-1b (The Putting Green;
Lifting And Cleaning Ball) allows a player
to lift his ball without penalty when it is
on the putting green. Rule 20-1 (Relief
Situations And Procedure; Lifting And
Marking) requires a ball that must be
replaced to have its position marked
before it is lifted. However, there are
times when even your marker interferes
with a player’s intended line of putt.
The Note to Rule 20-1 says that if
the ball-marker interferes with another
player’s play, it should be placed one
or more clubhead-lengths to the side.
In order to replace the ball when this
has been done, the procedure must be
reversed. The most common way of
moving one’s marker involves marking
the position and using the putter-head
as a way to move the coin left or right,
using a tree or other stationary object as
a point of reference.
On the 18th hole of the final round
of the 2012 Crown Plaza Invitational
at Colonial, Zach Johnson held a
commanding three shot advantage.
After his third shot came to rest just
five feet from the hole, it appeared the
tournament was all but over. However,
his ball had come to rest on the line
of putt of his fellow-competitor, Jason
Dufner. Dufner asked Johnson to move
his ball-marker to the side, which he did
by spanning one club-head length over
and relocating his ball-marker.
After Dufner putted, Johnson
placed his ball in front of his ball-marker
and holed his putt for an apparent threeshot victory. As he was heading to the
scoring area, CBS announcer Peter Kostis
asked Johnson if he had returned his
ball-marker to its original location before
putting. Johnson realized he had not
done so. What’s the ruling?
When Johnson placed his ball in
front of his marker without moving the
marker back to its original position and
putted, he was in breach of Rule 20-7c
(Playing From Wrong Place; Stroke Play).
The penalty for playing from a wrong
place in stroke play is two strokes and
no other correction is required unless
the breach is serious. Johnson’s play
from the wrong place was not a serious
breach so he was required to add two
strokes to his score and play out the
hole with the ball played from the wrong
place. (A serious breach occurs when
the Committee considers that the player
has gained a significant advantage as
a result of playing from a wrong place.
Obviously putting from a location one
putter-head length to the side did not
gain Johnson a significant advantage.)
Fortunately for Johnson, the twostroke penalty for playing from the wrong
place didn’t cost him the title. He won by
one stroke instead of three.
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Connecticut State Golf Association
41