The three-minute search

After a solid drive down the par-5 10th at Doha Golf Club, Matthew Jordan looked to be in a commanding position to extend his two-shot lead as he headed into the final nine holes of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. But it didn’t pan out that way, as Chris Wallace, Rules manager at The R&A, explains.

When a pushed 3-wood leaked right of the green and ricocheted between several rocks on its way into the desert surrounds, time wasn’t on Jordan’s side as his ball search would end up ticking just over three minutes, ultimately costing him the chance to win his first DP World Tour event.

As Jordan and his group approached the area where they had seen his ball land, it became apparent that it was not going to be easily found. The marshals had started an initial search with no luck, but importantly, the official three-minute search time hadn’t actually started until either Jordan or his caddie had begun to search for it.

Under Rule 18.2a, a ball is lost if not found in three minutes after the player or his or her caddie begins to search for it. As the threeminute window had started, Jordan, along with his caddie, fellow playing partner, rules officials and fans, all began searching frantically to try and find it.

As the ball had ricocheted off a number of rocks, the area they were searching was quite large. Although a player is only allowed three minutes before the ball becomes lost, if a ball is found in that time but it is uncertain whether or not it is the player’s, they still get the opportunity to promptly identify whether the ball is theirs and are allowed a reasonable time to do this, even if it happens after the three-minute search time has expired. This includes a reasonable time to get to the ball if the player is not immediately close to where it is found.

With a rules official on hand to time the search (as well as to offer an extra pair of eyes), the clock ticked past the three-minute mark, which was conveyed to Jordan and his caddie, only for a ball to be found a matter of seconds later. Although the ball was indeed Jordan’s, as soon as the three minutes is up, it is officially lost under the Rules, meaning he had to head back up the fairway to play again under penalty of stroke and distance.