‘I had a humorous state of affairs’

What occurred on 9, the reporter requested Corey Conners. query, although should you occur to be in a rush right here, maybe you’ll’ve needed the scribe to ask this as an alternative:

What didn’t occur?

Friday, after his second spherical on the Sentry, the PGA Tour’s season-opener, Conners supplied some intel. Notably, he bogeyed the 545-yard par-5 on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, which stood out in and of itself in his seven-under-66 spherical — however how he bogeyed might also be of curiosity, particularly the sequence that unlocked 4 guidelines incidents. 

Mentioned Conners of all of it: “I had a humorous state of affairs.”

Right here’s how issues performed out:

— His tee shot strayed proper. “I simply made an uncommitted swing on the tee,” Conners mentioned. 

— His ball wound up in “lengthy grass,” the place Conners mentioned it was embedded. He known as over an official. 

“So I had the official there,” Conners mentioned, “and was making an attempt to get aid from the embedded ball, and wasn’t entitled to that as a result of I didn’t actually have a shot. Which, I didn’t actually have a shot. If my ball wasn’t plugged, I might have been taking an unplayable. May have argued possibly that I might have swung.”

Wait. Why didn’t Conners get aid right here? That’s spelled out in Rule 16.3a (1), the place it says: “There isn’t a aid below Rule 16.3b: When enjoying the ball because it lies is clearly unreasonable due to one thing from which the participant will not be allowed to take free aid (corresponding to when a participant is unable to make a stroke due to the place the ball lies in a bush).”

(Notably, in keeping with the foundations, “a committee could undertake an area rule proscribing aid to a ball embedded in these elements of the overall space lower to fairway peak or much less.”)

— Conners took a one-stroke drop for an unplayable ball, allotted below Rule 19.2. 

— However now?

“The Shot Hyperlink tower was in my method,” Conners mentioned, “so I received a drop.”

That falls below aid from non permanent immovable obstructions. (The USGA provides a splendidly detailed description of TIOs in a pamphlet that may be discovered right here.) 

— However now?

“Was on the cart path, took aid from that,” Conners mentioned. 

That comes by way of Rule 16.1, which defines aid from irregular course circumstances. 

— Lastly, Conners performed shot three, and he superior his ball to wedge distance. From there, he pitched to 14 ft, then missed the par putt and completed with a bogey.

“It was simply arrange by a poor drive,” Conners mentioned. “Gave myself a par putt, however wasn’t capable of convert it.”

With that, Conners’ post-round press convention was carried out, and he was seemingly off to unwind.