Need help with ruling: Marking ball from off the green

[Todd Ruggere]

A situation with a friend recently came up. He was just off the green and there was a ball in the way. he was going to putt from the fringe. He had the other person mark the ball. Usually when doing this the golfer will hold the ball with 2 fingers being careful not to clean the ball. In this case, not even thinking, the guy picked the ball up and put it in his pocket.

Whats the ruling? Kind of a weird situation.

[iacas]

You can put a ball in your pocket without cleaning it, particularly if it wasn't dirty (i.e. a clump of something stuck to it).

To give a true ruling we'd have to know whether he cleaned the ball.

People tend to be overly cautious, yes, but failure to be overly cautious is not in and of itself a breach.