A player cannot declare their ball “lost” and that’s what Shane Lowry tried to do Friday at The 2024 Open at Royal Troon when he pulled his second shot on 14 into an area he didn’t want to go searching in.
Related video: https://youtu.be/p6atHuMkcs8?si=LPuVv0ZBmp5bVHBx
Related Posts
29 Comments
What was his blunder?
so its only a 'blunder' after the sequence of events unfolded and somehow he ought to have known in advance a. his second tee shot would be a good one and b. his original ball would be unplayable. He did what everyone would do and got an unlucky break when a fan found his ball. No mistake was made, unless he could see into the future.
Shane looked at the ball and then told the spectator stop looking for balls 🤣🤣.
R&A rules official said on tv that as Lowry had declared a provisional ball and the original ball was found then he has to play the original ball as it is deemed to be in play. He is able to drop another ball and not declare it as a provisional and take a 1 stroke and distance penalty and the second ball would then be deemed to be in play. I've never seen that in a tournament before unless the original ball was in a penalty area. But as a provisional was declared and the original was found he was had to play the original. Either way I think Lowry would have missed what was a tricky putt and got a 6 with either ball but will never know.
Do you have to look for the original ball for (3) minutes. Or declare it lost right away?
A club player like myself has no fans to look for it.
Thanks for the channel.
What do you mean you dont have to look for it? You could play a provisional every shot trying to hole out – and if you do, you abandon the original. Thats not the rules…
That is almost perfect except for one thing. A player can 100% immediately declare their ball lost and hit another one from the same spot. The difference being that's not a "provisional" ball – that ball is in play the second it hits the ground with a 1 stroke penalty.
EDIT: For semantics purposes yes, I'm talking about Rule 18.1 specifically (Same difference, same effect – it doesn't matter "why" just that a new ball hits the spot where the last one was played with without the words "provisional ball" being spoken")
How does a guy who has been a professional golfer for 15+ years NOT know that there is no such thing as 'declaring your ball lost' in the Rules? Makes you wonder how many times he has done that previously (illegally) and what other rules he doesn't know?
I wish more players were aware they can’t just declare a ball ‘lost’ as it leads to possible bad feelings.
Nicely explained
So in a tournament a player needs a par on the final hole to win. The final hole is a Par 3. He shanks his tee shot into the woods and declares a provisional. Provisional ball holes out for a hole in three. So his opponents run to the woods to look for the original when the shanker runs to the hole to pick out the hole-in-three ball to win the tournament?
A similar scenario: player hits wayward shot, then a provisional. Original ball is then found but is unplayable. My understanding is that he can’t use the provisional but instead must either hit a second ball from the tee or take a one stroke penalty and with the appropriate drop, play the original. Correct or not?
Seems to me that he still could have played his provisional after the spectator found the ball. Just say "No, that's not mine"…
Why not declare the ball unplayable, a player can declare a ball unplayable anywhere on the course, I´ve seen a pro do so in a tournament on a fast sloping green with a bunker below the hole, as his putt had no chance of stopping he decided to replay the shot from the previous spot making sure to leave the putt below the flag and take a one shot penalty. Lowery could have said that the ball will be unplayable and hit again from the tee with one stroke penalty.
Spectators should not be looking for the balls unless they are routing or have bet on another player, oh wait, how would we know that. Just eliminate the spectators from looking for and being considered for that rule or any rule.
If Shane didn't want to find the first ball. Then he has the option to play another ball from the tee but not declare it as a provisional. It then becomes the ball in play regardless if you find the first one or not.
What about unplayable. I thought it is up to the player to declare a ball unplayable.
What you can do, and I did it last week, is not look for the first ball when you have hit a good provisional. As long an none of your playing partners look for it either you are OK doing this.
Of course, the provisional had a better lie!😆
My understanding is ,she is correct ,you don't declare ball lost,but where does it say in the rules you 1,have to look for it, 2. identify it. It would be bad etiquette for the other players to look for it apparently , however if he hit a poor prov ,he could identify his original the declare it unplayable and take another ball for s@d .That's how I understand it ,or not declare the second ball as a provisional
so he should have hit his provisional as quickly as possible
If he just takes the penalty and plays a ball at the original spot where he hit the bad shot he is home free. You can always take a penalty and play from the original spot without looking for the bad shot. I saw this years ago when Mickelson hit a ball off the tee in to a grove of gnarly alder and declared it lost and told everyone on the course not to look for it. Same thing happened, they found it. He was fuming.
its a shitty american course. Open is in Ireland next year where he will win. Boom!
I don't think Shane has to accept a spectator find his ball if he's declared it lost.
Rule 35 c states clearly " when a player wot is playing with anudder playir ,plays anudder ball from where he was standin when de udder player ,wot he was originally playin wit, takes out de fags an lites up de udder player must take out his own fags ,sit down n lite up,the of course rule 47 f comes into play,de rule is now in play ,and if dat is de case, both players are in play,and fare play to dem,den pare of dem, can lite up a second fag and de rules are clear on dis !!! clearly de boys need to take up cold water swimmin ! Or indeed abusse a few spectators for comin out to watch dem lite up,,". I hope that clears up this horrific incident for once and for all !!
Am I right in believing that in the past you were allowed to declare your bell lost?
The player is absolutely able to make the decision not to search. The issue here is that someone else found it and he must then identify it. Sometimes players don't want others to look, but it is out of their control.
Agreed, you can't declare lost ball but the problem here is that he declared a provisional. Had he just played the second shot without saying anything then his second tee shot would be the one in play regardless of anyone potentially finding the original.
Absolutely true. A player is never allowed to interfere with the status of his all.
You are correct, however explained in the most uncorrect confusing way 😂😂