Questionable Ruling@Masters

[JustSneaky]

Did you see the free drop, John Senden was allowed. His ball was stuck/plugged on the inside lip of the bunker. imo the hazard is defined by the hole in the ground with sand in it,the ball was on the inside of the hazard,penalty drop for unplayable lie.

The ball was not touching sand,and was not touching grass,..a dirt face/"lip"

Now what if I'm in the bunker and I guts one straight into the lip and it plugs. By thier ruling I am now out of the bunker and may have a free drop outside of the bunker.:smt102

[Johnny Canuck]

Unplayable lie, 1 stroke penalty. No free drop.

[AndyP]

The hazard does not extend vertically if that helps. I couldn't be bothered looking into it further though.

[JustSneaky]

couldn't be bothered either, but good point AndyP.

So maybe only the sand is hazard?,because the ball is still below ground level.

[Johnny Canuck]

The sand is the hazard, the face is not. You would proceed as you normally would for an unplayable.

[3oneday]

I am sure there is more to it than that, doubtful he would have had a favourable ruling if it was incorrect.

[sms316]

Normally the rule would be plugged ball through the green but not on a fairway is a one shot penalty for a drop. Seems the PGA in their wisdom decided to make it plugged ball through the green.

Odd decision, since what happened to Sendon is exactly the reason why the rule exists in the first place.

[AndyP]

Surely they don't count it as a closely mown area, so he can use the Embedded Ball rule.

edit: posted before reading sms's post.

[Moe Norman]

you can take an unplayable from anywhere within a bunker for a 1 stroke penalty - but yo have to leave it in there....

[sms316]

you can take an unplayable from anywhere within a bunker for a 1 stroke penalty - but yo have to leave it in there....
The ball wasn't embedded in the bunker. It was embedded in the turf lip (that 8 inches or so at the top of the face is not sand, so it isn't considered part of the hazard).

[JustSneaky]

The hazard does not extend vertically if that helps. I couldn't be bothered looking into it further though.

Just in case it comes around,........I had a read and the Hazard extends vertically up and down.

[Coffs_Hacker]

the Hazard extends vertically up and down.

Same as a water hazard, if on a bridge above a water hazard, play as it lies

[markTHEblake]

It would seem the confusion of the ruling was not in regard to the vertical up and down, but rather that the ball wasnt in the hazard, because being plugged it had passed the vertical line and was outside the hazard (deep underground)

But the rule is that a ball is considered to be lying where it entered the ground, not where it ended up - hence wrong decision.

I think i need one of you engineers to draw a pic to explain this - but hey, it could be worse (Damo, Andylo, DC68)

[AndyP]

I'm quite happy to label Senden a cheat like I have O'Hern.

[goughy]

Ooooh, what did lefty do???

[Eag's]

Ooooh, what did lefty do???

Don't encourage him goughy :roll:

[JustSneaky]

Just need to flog this horse one more time .......I was wrong sand bunkers do not extend vertically up,(only down) water hazards extend up and down.

My bad, AndyP

[AndyP]

I never doubted myself.