Questions on etiquette and rules of golf
By RCGA national rules officials Kay Thompson* and Bruce Watson*/tely Junior Golf Tour
Question:
At this year’s first LPGA major, the ANA Inspiration, Lexi Thompson was penalized four strokes for what looked like a very minor incident. Can you explain it? She would have won easily but for that.
Answer:
During the final (4th) round of the event, the LPGA received an email from a TV viewer stating Thompson had not replaced her ball with sufficient accuracy on the 17th green during Saturday’s 3rd round. The LPGA rules staff reviewed the video footage and agreed Thompson had breached rule 16-1b which requires that a ball be replaced on the spot from which it was lifted. Instead, she replaced the ball about a half inch to one side — a clear violation. Consequently, she was assessed a two-stroke penalty applied to the 17th hole of her 3rd round for playing from a wrong place.
There is an exception to Rule 6-6d that provides that if a competitor returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken due to failure to include one or more penalty strokes that before returning his scorecard he did not know he had incurred, he is not disqualified. Instead, the competitor incurs an additional penalty of two strokes. Under this exception, Thompson received the additional two penalty strokes.
We would like to point out that the LPGA had no option other than to do what it did, as harsh as it seems. When rules officials are made aware of a potential breach they are required, by rule, to follow up. The source of the information is irrelevant.
If Thompson had become aware of the two-stroke penalty prior to signing her 3rd round scorecard, she would have received only the two-stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place.
Interestingly, if this had come to light after the event had closed, there would have been no penalty at all and Thompson would have won. But would she have wanted to win in that fashion? We doubt it. The emailer should not be blamed. It’s a case of “don’t shoot the messenger.”