Professionals and Provisional Balls

[The Recreational Golfer]

On the 15h hole last Sunday, Graeme McDowell duck-hooked a shot into the gorse where he has to have known that he might not find it, or have a shot or even a drop for an unplayable if he did. Yet he didn't play a provisional ball.

I saw Laura Davies at a tournament a few years ago hit a drive so far into the woods it would have taken Lewis and Clark to find it, but she went down to look for it without hitting a provisional ball.

Then they get a ride back to where they were to hit another ball and hold up the entire tournament.

Why don't touring pros hit provisional balls? Those aren't the only two instances I've seen, either.

[zeg]

They don't always, but they do sometimes. Snedeker hit one the same day that McDowell didn't. So it's not possible to say they never do.

The probably do so rarely because of the effect of forecaddies and spectators---it's quite rare to actually lose a ball.

Also, while it's strongly advised to play one, it can sometimes be a distraction/disruption if the ball ends up not being needed. It's an extra swing, and while sometimes it can be therapeutic to re-play a shot that you botched, you may find you get a different result if you don't immediately hit again. In an event where a tiny advantage can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, they may simply prefer not to take an extra swing until they know they need to.

But I suspect it's mostly because they find almost every ball. For McDowell, there's also the fact that he was in the final group, so it really didn't hold anyone up (except for his partner).