A player hits his tee shot into the rough on the 18th hole (Stroke play). He finds a ball after 2 mins, declares it unplayable, takes lateral relief, drops and plays it. On the green, realises it is not his ball. The player returns to the area where he estimated his original balll to be and finds the original ball within 30 seconds. He plays the original ball and holes out with a putt. He reports the incident to the committee before returning his scorecard. Whats the ruling, Please quote the applicable rule number and penalties to be applied. Many thanks in anticipation.

Answer

Several rules come into play here. The player attempted to take unplayable relief prior to finding their ball. The only available relief would have been stroke and distance under rule 19. Under rule 6.3, once a ball was dropped and played it became the ball in play and the original ball became a wrong ball. Since this ball was not played from the teeing area, it was played from a wrong place. Rule 14.7. This earns them three penalty strokes, one for the stroke and distance penalty and two for playing from wrong place. The committee decides whether this was a serious breach, but that should be the case under the rules.

The player should then go back to correct by playing a ball from the teeing area, but instead they play the original ball, which is now a wrong ball. This earns the player an additional two stroke penalty. See 14.7b(3). Also See 6.3c(1)/1 – Meaning of “Penalty Strokes Solely from Playing That Ball”. Since this mess was discovered before the scorecard was returned, the committee should send the player back to the 18th tee to play their 7th stroke. Failing to do so will result in disqualification. See rule 6.3c.