Hi Linda,
In our Club Championship last week stroke play an incident
happened to my friend and we have been having a discussion about it.
Player A was very upset with her putting and picked the ball
up at the edge of the cup. They continued to play and at the end of the
round her marker said she would not sign Player A’s scorecard as she had picked
up her ball. I thought it should have been mentioned at the time when she
picked the ball up that she was out of the competition. I believe that to allow
her to continue until the end and then tell her was incorrectly handled. Of
course, Player A DQ'd herself, but shouldn't one of the other three players
have said something at the time and not wait until the end? The end result was
DQ either way. What was the proper way to handle this? Tell her at the time or
wait until the end of the round?
Some of my friends say it's the player's responsibility to
call it on herself at the time and not the responsibility of the marker. I say
the marker should have said something at the end of that hole and treat it the
same as if the player said she had a 5 and it was really a 6. You always
correct the score immediately...why not the breach of a rule?
Lulu from Boca Raton, Florida
Dear
Lulu,
The
player is responsible for knowing the Rules [Rule 6-1]. Since she failed to
hole out, and teed off on the next hole without correcting her error, she is
disqualified [Rule 3-2]. There is no question about the penalty to the player.
The Rules are a little murkier regarding the player’s marker.
A
marker, by Definition, is a person who has been appointed by the Committee to
record a competitor’s score in stroke play. On completion of the hole the
marker should check with the competitor for her score and record it [Rule 6-6a].
If
the marker had signed the player’s scorecard at the end of the round, knowing
that the player had breached a Rule and that her score was incorrect, the
marker would be disqualified along with the player [Rule 1-3; Decision 1-3/6].
The player and her marker are both responsible for the correctness of the
player’s scorecard.
Anyone accompanying this player who
observed her failure to hole out and was aware that she was required to do so
had the responsibility to tell the player so that she could correct her mistake
and avoid disqualification. If the Committee reviews the facts and finds that the
marker or any of the fellow competitors withheld information that caused the
player to be disqualified, it would be appropriate to impose a penalty of
disqualification under Rule 33-7 on any or all of them [Decision 33-7/9].
No
one should ever fail to inform a competitor that she has breached a Rule. It is
not a kindness to withhold such information, and can result in serious
penalties for all involved. If someone had stepped up and told Player A, after
she picked up her ball, that she was required to hole out, Player A could have
replaced the ball, holed out, added a one-stroke penalty to her score (the
penalty under Rule 18-2 for lifting her ball in play), and remained in the
competition. Who would not want to save a player from disqualification?
Linda
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