US Amateur - Day 2 - Long Version

Though I worked the US Amateur yesterday at the Home Course, I had a very different feeling coming into work this morning at Chambers Bay.  It just felt different.  There was an incredible buzz that I can only relate to the feeling you get walking into a stadium to watch a college or pro game.  Only this area was spread over hundreds of acres.  It is simply amazing what has been created here.  I’m sure the architecture buffs may find faults in the design and players may have felt the course played to hard and tough but personally and everyone I’ve talked to this week cannot stop talking about the energy this place creates.  You can hear every roar on property and form many of the holes you can pull out a pair of binoculars and see why everyone is excited.  If you have a chance to make it up for the weekend, I so strongly recommend.  This place is electric!

As this is actually a Rules blog I should probably talk a bit about the Rules.  Here a few of the more interesting Rulings I assisted players with during the second round of stroke play qualifying.

1)    Can I get a free drop?

My day began with a player calling me over to look at his ball just left of the tenth fairway.  He wanted relief for an embedded ball.  While the Rules only permit a player relief from a ball embedded in a closely mown area through the green.  Essentially this means a player is entitled to free relief for a ball embedded in the fairway and the fringe of the putting green.  However, during all USGA Championships, a Local Rule is adopted that provides relief for an embedded ball anywhere through the green, except in sand outside of closely mown areas.  When I arrived at the area where the player’s ball was located, he explained his request and I asked him where his ball was.  He pointed and said, “right there.”  I was standing about three feet from it and had no idea.  As you can see from the photograph below (taken by the USGA’s John Mummert) the rough is extremely penal.

Click on the picture to view John’s other pictures from the week’s play.

When a ball is this deep in the rough there is no way to tell if it is embedded without lifting the ball to check.  However, the Rules do not allow the player to lift the ball unless it is embedded.  What to do … reference Decision 20-1/0.7 (one of my favorite decisions) which applies equity to allow the player to lift the ball to check if it is embedded.  When the ball was lifted (after being marked) it was clear the ball was simply nested in a very, very, very poor lie.  My first “official” Ruling at the national level ends with me saying, in effect, “no.”

2)    Can I take credit for his birdie?

About few groups later a ball came to rest right near the putting green on hole #10.  A player called me over and asked for help taking relief from a sprinkler head very near the green.  A sprinkler head is an immovable obstruction and the relief procedure is covered by Rule 24-2b.  His ball was through the green and because his ball was lying on the obstruction he was entitled to relief.  He found his nearest point of relief using his putter because his is the club he would have used if the sprinkler was not there (he was only about 15 feet from the hole) and dropped within a club-length no nearer the hole.  When the ball was dropped it rolled onto the putting green.  Rule 20-2c(iii) requires that the ball be re-dropped if it is dropped off the green and rolls onto and comes to rest on any putting green.  The player re-dropped again and holed the putt for a birdie three.  When he left the green, he was extremely complimentary … must have been because he was one-under on the extremely difficult Chambers Bay track through one hole.

3)    The balls “kissed” but neither moved … until one was moved!

I was roving between holes 1, 10, 17 & 18 and through most of my time was spent on hole #10, I circled back often to check on pace and the pinball game golf that was taking place on hole #1 while overlooking play on the closing two holes.  I was called over by two player who were behind the 17th putting green.  Their tee shots on the 230 yard par three had come to rest against one another!  Luckily for me there was a very attentive marshal stationed behind the green who saw the balls come to rest.  I asked if the last ball moved the first ball played.  He said, “no, the second ball came it and just kissed the first ball but did not move it.”

So nothing needed to be replaced but one of the players would need to move their ball so the other could hit.  One player offered to play first and asked the other player to lift his ball.  Rule 22-2 allows a player to have any other ball lifted if it would interfere with his play.  This was clearly the case and the other player marked and lifted his ball and when he did the other ball moved.  When a Ruling gets complicated you just need to slow down and take it one Rule at a time and if you have a basic knowledge of the Rules you can work through even complex situations fairly quickly.  The ball that was lifted, must be replaced because that’s what Rule 22-2 says.  It also says the ball cannot be cleaned so the player was careful to hold it carefully.

The ball that moved fell under another category, specifically Rule 18, which requires a ball at rest and in play to be replaced if it is moved.  When the player tried to replace it, the ball would not stay.  Rule 20-3d provides an easy solution when your ball will not stay at rest.  In fact, you likely use this Rule often without thinking about it.  The player tried to replace the ball and it rolled to the right.  He tried it again and it rolled a bit right again.  So he was then instructed to find the nearest point, no closer to the hole that the ball would remain at rest.  He tried a nearby spot and the ball stayed for 1, 2, 3 seconds.  Good by me.  I’ve often hear if a ball, when being placed or replaced, remains at rest for count of three this satisfies the Rule.

The player played up, the other player still operating under Rule 22-2, replaced his “uncleaned” ball and they were on their way.  No harm, no foul and most importantly, no penalties because the course was hard enough Monday and Tuesday for the Amateurs (did I mention, I can’t wait to see the pros take a crack at this place in 2015!)

4)    Who is working hole #10!? ... Yikes, that's me

When a call like that comes across the radio and you’re the official needing to respond (and it’s your first Rules assignment at a National Championship) … it can be a bit scary.  But I had a good out, kind of.  I came over from hole #18 and there were two player approaching the tenth green.  The design of the hole blocks the view of much of the fairway so I figured the third player was on his way up.  Another 30 seconds pass and no third player and the gallery had still not broken form in the fairway.  I asked the player’s by the green if their fellow-competitor needed help and they said he had already called over an official.  Funny, that official for this hole was me but there were about 10 rovers covering the entire course and I assumed it was being taken care of.  About 30 seconds later, “who’s working hole #10!?” comes across the radio and I respond and said the players told me another official was already on scene.  Unfortunately, this is not quite what happened.  The player had sent his brother to run back up to the tee because he wanted an official because he was unsure how to drop under the unplayable.  There was no other official coming, just a lot of miscommunication and 250 yards I needed to cover to reach the player.  By the way, carts are not permitted on the grass at Chambers Bay so hoof it I did, quickly!  The player had a terrible lie and was being told by the gallery that line of flight was one of his options.  Luckily for the player he headed the advice passed out at the player’s reception that they should never take Rules council from marshal or spectators, only those wearing Red Rules Badges.

In the end the Ruling was quite simple.  He kept the hole between where his ball came to rest and dropped, under penalty of one stroke, back toward the #1 teeing ground and played up over the hill toward the green (Rule 28b)  Though this type of delay is never a good thing, I lucked out because it was the last group of the afternoon.  Meaning, there was no one to delay on the 10th tee and due to a wait on the 11th tee the group cleared hole 10 and were never out of position.