It’s time for our ruling of the day from round two. It involves a former St Andrews Open Champion.
Following the heavy rain which led to a suspension of play for 3 hours and 14 minutes on Friday morning, The Old Course, recovered quickly to allow a resumption of play 10.00am and while it would have been reasonable to expect many casual water rulings, it was actually another Rule that featured on the second day of the Championship.
Playing their 1st hole of the second round of the 144th Championship, Jason Dufner’s ball at rest on the fairway, was moved by John Daly’s tee shot. Initially there was some confusion as to which ball had been moved as Dufner’s ball had been lying very close to Jimenez’s on the fairway after their tee shots. From a distance it was difficult to determine which ball had been moved, so the referee walking with the game decided to check with television to see if they had any footage of the incident.
If a ball in play and at rest is moved by another ball in motion after a stroke, the moved ball must be replaced – Rule 18-5. The ball that was in motion and is deflected by the ball at rest is played as it lies – Rule 19-5a.
After a review of footage of the situation, it was established that Daly’s ball had moved Dufner’s ball by a few feet. So the referee was able to advise Dufner that he had to replace his ball on the spot from which it was moved (Rule 18-5). In terms of Daly’s ball, he was required to play his ball from the spot where it had come to rest after it had been deflected (Rule 19-5).
Dufner and Daly were not the only ones that experienced this situation. On the 10th hole Bowdicth’s ball in motion struck Iwata’s ball that was at rest on the putting green and knocked Iwata’s ball off the putting green. Iwata was able to replace his ball on the putting green and Bowditch played his ball from where it eventually came to rest after the deflection.
And again, on the 18th hole Wiesberger’s drive struck Zack Johnson’s ball which was at rest on the fairway. Johnson was required to replace his ball under Rule 18-5. However, as it was impossible to determine the spot where the ball was to be replaced, Johnson had to estimate the spot where it had been before it was moved and then dropped the ball as near as possible to this estimated spot (Rule 20-3c).