Laird/Bryant Situation. Explanation Please?

[Doctorfro]

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/...839328,00.html

Ok, I've read this article and I just don't get it. Are they telling me that Laird should NOT have fixed his pitch mark? And Bryant was supposed to just keep his mouth shut when his playing partner spoke to him? This all seems pretty stupid to me.

[DaveLeeNC]

I don't get it either. Rule 13-2 specificially exempts (in the context of improving your line of play) repairing damage to the green per Rule 16-1 (which addresses repairing plug marks on the green whether or not the player's ball is on the green).

I guess the infraction was that Bart (by implication) asked Laird to do the repairing (I guess).

dave

[Tonywoods]

This originally confused me because the article can lead you to believe the pitch was on the green if not read closely, but after researching better versions of the story the pitch was on the fringe, which makes it an improvement of line of play issue. Then you have Bryant acknowledging that the area was part of his line (interpreted by the USGA officials as allowing it to be improved) to seal the violation. A bad situation, because I would be about 100% certain that Bryant would have known that the pitch could not be repaired if part of his line – he just got caught up answering the question without thinking, while Laird was in the process of tamping it down. This said, I don’t understand the “didn’t know that rule” comment if it was in reference to the line improvement, anybody playing any level of competitive golf knows this.

[Doctorfro]

Thanks. That changes everything. I thought we were talking about a mark on the green.

[DaveLeeNC]

This originally confused me because the article can lead you to believe the pitch was on the green if not read closely, but after researching better versions of the story the pitch was on the fringe, which makes it an improvement of line of play issue. Then you have Bryant acknowledging that the area was part of his line (interpreted by the USGA officials as allowing it to be improved) to seal the violation. A bad situation, because I would be about 100% certain that Bryant would have known that the pitch could not be repaired if part of his line – he just got caught up answering the question without thinking, while Laird was in the process of tamping it down. This said, I don’t understand the “didn’t know that rule” comment if it was in reference to the line improvement, anybody playing any level of competitive golf knows this.

Rule 16-1-c says "a player may repair an old hole plug or damage to the putting green caused by the impact of a ball, whether or not the player's ball lies on the putting green." I still don't understand the infraction. It was stated to be rule 13-2 whick directly references rule 16-1. dave

[iacas]

Are they telling me that Laird should NOT have fixed his pitch mark? And Bryant was supposed to just keep his mouth shut when his playing partner spoke to him?

He should not have repaired it until after Bart played. Bart should have said "yes it's on my line, so leave it alone for now."

Rule 16-1-c says "a player may repair an old hole plug or damage to the putting green caused by the impact of a ball, whether or not the player's ball lies on the putting green."

It wasn't on the putting green. The ball mark was on the fringe, NOT the putting green.

[DaveLeeNC]

He should not have repaired it until after Bart played. Bart should have said "yes it's on my line, so leave it alone for now."

My reading of rule 16-1-c is that your ball DOES NOT have to be on the putting green before you can fix a ballmark. dave

[iacas]

My reading of rule 16-1-c is that your ball

The BALL MARK does (have to be on the green).

From the original article:

Source: Original Article Laird's tee shot on the par 3 landed on the fringe and rolled to 3 feet. Bryant's shot came up just short in the rough, some 50 feet from the flag.

[DaveLeeNC]

The BALL MARK does (have to be on the green).

Thanks - my error. I can't believe that two professionals actually thought that they could fix a pitch mark (not a ball embedded in its own pitch mark) off the green in the line of play.

dave