Guidelines state of affairs stumps Tour professional. Then enjoying companion wise-cracks 3 phrases 

Daniel Berger? He sounded stumped. 

However Harris English? 

He was seemingly ready. A possible line had been placed on a tee for him, so to talk, and, on nationwide TV, he swung away.  

“Did you hear what Harris’ preliminary response was?” analyst Johnson Wagner stated on the Golf Channel broadcast.

In the event you had been watching Thursday’s first spherical of the PGA Tour’s World Extensive Expertise Championship, you would possibly’ve. To set issues up, the group of Berger, English and Tom Hoge had simply hit approaches into the par-4 seventh at El Cardonal at Diamante when Berger, whereas reaching all the way down to mark his ball, noticed that the wind nudged it ahead. What now? Would he be penalized? The place would he play from subsequent? 

Berger referred to as over to English, and mics picked up this change: 

“Harry, I went to mark my ball …”

English paused for a second, then deadpanned three phrases. 

“4 shot penalty.”

Good job, everybody. On the printed, Wagner laughed, as did colleagues Terry Gannon and Billy Ray Brown. No, Berger wouldn’t be docked 4 strokes. However what’s the decision right here? 

After English’s line, Berger referred to as for an official, whom he advised that as he went to mark, “the wind gusted and it moved it like this far,” earlier than asking the place to play subsequent: outdated spot or new. The official advised him the latter, and from there, Berger two-putted for a par, doing so penalty-free. 

There are a couple of elements to the rule in play right here (Rule 13.1d (2)). If Berger had already marked his ball, lifted it, put it again down after which the wind moved it, he’d have to maneuver it again to the place it had initially been (and will accomplish that penalty-free). However since he hadn’t but marked it, he was allowed to play it from the brand new spot. 

There’s a bit extra. On the printed, it was initially thought that Berger had unintentionally moved his ball himself as he went to mark it, and had that been the case, the ruling would’ve been barely completely different, although additionally with out penalty. Rule 13.1d (1) says “there isn’t any penalty if the participant, opponent or one other participant in stroke play unintentionally strikes the participant’s ball or ball-marker on the placing inexperienced,” and that the participant should then “exchange the ball on its authentic spot (which if not identified have to be estimated) or place a ball-marker to mark that authentic spot.”

“So since he hadn’t marked his ball already,” Wagner stated on the broadcat, “he’s going to play it the place the wind gusted it. Had he marked it and went to interchange it and it gusted, he would have moved it again.”