Good bounce for tour champions leads to field rules DQ
Nick Pistowski
Ben Crane hit his tee on the 13th hole at the Puntacana Resort on Friday.
Getty Images
Ben Crane's good bounce caused him to bounce himself.
In the third round of the PGA Tour Punta Cana Championship on Saturday, the five-time tour champion left the T-shirt and headed towards the water on the 8th hole of the Punta Cana Resort in the Dominican Republic, then dropped and hit the second ball, then shot started, causing the sequence to cause the crane to be misaligned due to the wrong license plate. The news was released Saturday afternoon through a brief news from the PGA Tour.
According to two video cranes posted on his X account and videotape on the ground, Crane's first ball hit the rock and bounced back to work, but he didn't notice that and thought his ball had disappeared. This is where things get furry. His second ball ended next to his first, and Crane hit the ball he thought was the second, finishing the hole – and then found a scratch on the ball, unsure that he chose the right one.
Shortly afterwards, Crane and the Tour Rules Committee ruled that Crane completed the 8th hole with his original ball, but did not correct the error. As a result, he disqualified himself for violating Rule 6.3c(1), which reads in this way:
“Players must not have a stroke with the wrong ball.
“In a stroke game, the player is subject to a general fine (two free throws) and the error must be corrected by continuing to play the ball under the rules or releasing the original ball. The strokes made with the wrong ball and more strokes in the case of error correction (including the action made (including the action made) and any additional punitive strokes that resulted in any extra free throws from that ball), which is numerous.
“If the player does not correct the error before hitting the ball, or on the last hole of the round before returning to the scorecard, the player will be disqualified.”
Rule 6.3c(1) is rare and is more rare because of it. There is no forgiveness to find the first ball after the second game, as part of Rule 17.3c reads like this: “If the player's ball is not found and the ball has been known or determined to be in the free throw area, the player may perform free throw relief under Rule 17.1d or 17.2. In the course before the end of the three-minute search time.”
Afterwards, Crane shared his side in the video.
He began, “The corals are open, and today's Punta Cana is on the eighth hole on Saturday.” “Then I hit the danger. After hitting the danger, I walked forward and dropped a ball and hit the fairway. I hit the fairway. There were two balls on the fairway, and they were mine. [playing partner] David Lipsky and I both like it, wait a moment. What's going on?
“Well, we realized my ball had hit the fairway from the rock. Now I have two balls on the fairway. I think my ball was on the right the second ball I threw. I played that golf ball and pushed it out and realized there was a big rock scratch on that ball. When I stood out on the shot, I didn't make a good effort, I was shooting, I was shooting, I was shooting, I was standing out on my numbers again. I had to disqualify myself because I was pretty sure that was the ball I abandoned and I kicked it.”
“>
Nick Pistowski
Golf.comEdit
Nick Piastowski is the senior editor of Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories throughout the golf field. And, when he didn't write about how to hit golf more directly and directly, the Milwaukee man might be playing games, hitting the ball left, right and short, and then having a cold beer to wash off his score. You can contact him at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
