Mickelson wrong ball, wrong ruling antics

October 10, 2015On Tour0

AP’s Doug Ferguson leads with the oddity of a veteran like Phil Mickelson encountering a situation he’d never seen (a match adjustment penalty), and one started by his switching to a harder ball in hopes of reaching a par-5 in two. But with this score adjustment for a rules violation element, reader RM makes a fair point: there is no such thing as dormie if you’re two down with one to go! Woohoo!

From Ferguson’s story:

“I was talking with Jay and I just thought, ‘Gosh, I’m going to ask. I’m sure it’s not an issue,'” Mickelson said. “And it turns out that there was a one-ball rule and it was an issue. As a player, you need to know that. You need to know the rules, and if you have a question, you do it beforehand.”

No one knew the ramifications.

The penalty for violating the one-ball rule is called a one-hole adjustment, meaning the one hole is awarded to the other team.

But the rules committee erred when it told Mickelson that he was out of the hole, and Mickelson picked up his ball. Because the one-hole adjustment already had been assessed, Mickelson should have been able to finish the hole. He was in the fairway just over 290 yards from the hole, which he could have reached with a good shot.

But he never got that chance. Day made birdie and won the hole, so the International team went 2 up heading to the eighth hole.”

Here is the committee decision released to the media, tweeted by Ferguson:

Phil Mickelson’s post round:

Mike Johnson at GolfDigest.com has a nice summary.

More from GeoffShackelford.com.

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