Cristie Did Not Address That Ball on the 12th Hole

[virginian]

Folks,

I have Cristie's 12th hole of the 1st round of the Fields Open recorded on DVD. I can watch it in slow motion. I can watch it frame by frame.

The rule about addressing a golf ball is clear. To address the ball, a player must assume his or her stance and ground the club. There is no way in "heck" Cristie had assumed her putting stance. (Believe me, "heck" is not the word I wanted to use there).

It's not like there is no frame of reference to go by. Cristie has been on the tour for years now. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of videos showing Cristie's putting stance. I have quite a few of them myself.

And I say it again. There is no way in "heck" Cristie had assumed her putting stance!

The inconsisency of rulings by LPGA officials is maddening. When do they take a players word? When they want to?

It is no wonder the LPGA has trouble building ratings. The scales in my mind are beginning to tip in favor of not watching or attending LPGA tournaments anymore. I am only "one person". But guess what? A million people is a million "one persons". If the LPGA wants to keep me as a fan after Grace Park leaves the tour, they better stop this bull.....crap!

[DJGOLFER59]

Well I was confused by that as well. On the telecast that stated that a player has to have taken their stance and everyone seemed to think she was clear of the rule. And then the next day they say she got penalized. I'm sure of Cristie fought hard enough she could make a stand against this.

[ajraymond]

She grounded her putter which caused the ball to move. The stance is a moot point. That's why you are told not to ground your putter in that situation.

[MarinePaul]

Whether or not she grounded the putter, she had to replace the ball to its original position before making the stroke.

[RainMan]

I understood it the same as ajraymond. I don't think Kerr addressed the ball (I never heard her say "Hellooooo Ball") but that wasn't the ruling.

I guess her point of contention is whether her grounding of the putter caused the ball to move. To be honest, I don't think it did. The ball was moving on it's own when she was trying to replace it, and it seemed like it was gonna roll away at any second even after she was able to get it to stay there.

I'm pretty sure that if the ball rolled away on it's own, then she was correct in playing it from the new position.

[MarinePaul]

Since she had already marked, lifted and cleaned the ball, I'm fairly sure she had to play it from the position it was marked. Either way, it makes for some interesting conversation.

[ajraymond]

Check this one out http://youtube.com/watch?v=4y6e2azOx...elated&search=


Now that is a tough one to call. It ended up costing him a stroke.

[virginian]

Originally Posted by ajraymond

She grounded her putter which caused the ball to move. The stance is a moot point. That's why you are told not to ground your putter in that situation.

I went back and watched it again.... numerous times. It was a closeup view on a golf channel camera. And if the ruling was that the ball moved because of Cristie grounding her club, the ruling is still wrong. I watched it numerous times, regular speed and slow motion. Cristie had grounded her club a good 2 seconds, maybe 3, before the ball started to move.

Now ... the camera that the Golf Channel used to get the closeup of the putter and the ball was itself slightly moving. If it was a hand held camera, it was moving because of the cameraman's breathing or other natural movement. If it was a pod mounted camera, it was moving because of the wind or because of other vibrations. Because of that, there is no way anyone can pinpoint the exact instant the ball began to move.

To be fair, if no one can determine the instant the ball moved, that means I can't either. But if it can not be determined, you take the player's word ... if you are fair.

[ajraymond]

18-2b/4 Ball Moves After Player Grounds Club But Before Stance Completed


Q. A player’s routine prior to playing a stroke is as follows: He first grounds the club =directly behind the ball with his feet together. Then he gradually widens his feet to shoulder width. At that point, he makes the stroke.

If the ball moves after he grounds the club but before he widens his stance to shoulder width, does he incur a penalty stroke under Rule
18-2b (Ball Moving After Address)?

A. No. A player has not =addressed the ball until he completes taking his stance, i.e., his feet are essentially in the position in which he normally places them when making a stroke.
However, if the ball moved after the club was placed in position but before the player had completed taking his stance, he incurs a penalty stroke under Rule 18-2a for having caused the ball to move and must replace the ball, unless there is strong evidence that wind or some other agency caused the ball to move.





That's right out of the USGA rule book Virginian. She falls under the part after however. If you think that sucks look at the video above and you will see Angel took his practice swing a foot away from the ball and still got penalized when it moved. It all came down to Christie grounding her club. If she had of just hovered over the ground before she took her stroke, she would be fine. As soon as you touch that ground and the ball moves..... it's over. Whether you touched the ball or not you have to take the penalty.

[virginian]

Originally Posted by ajraymond

... unless there is strong evidence that wind or some other agency caused the ball to move.

That's right out of the USGA rule book Virginian. She falls under the part after however. If you think that sucks look at the video above and you will see Angel took his practice swing a foot away from the ball and still got penalized when it moved. It all came down to Christie grounding her club. If she had of just hovered over the ground before she took her stroke, she would be fine. As soon as you touch that ground and the ball moves..... it's over. Whether you touched the ball or not you have to take the penalty.

Again, if you watch the video, you see that Cristie had extreme difficulty placing her ball on her mark without the ball moving. It moved several times before she picked up her marker.

I think Gravity qualifies as an agency just as much as wind does. The ball moved on its own because of gravity, which means its natural movement took it to where she played it from.

I agree with Cristie.
I looked at the video above and, and as much as you would like it to, it does not apply. He acknowledges taking a practice swing. He did not dispute that and when he got the ruling, that was that. Cristie however disputed the ruling and contends that she did nothing to cause the ball to move.