2019 Phoenix Open

[chilepepper]

Exciting final round for them.

[CaseyD]

This year seemed a little different. The cup placement Saturday really took the crowd out of it. I get that some people don’t like it with how far it strays from the norm of traditional golf spectating but it is a fun early tournament.  The crowd and golfers are getting a touch lazy at 16. Used to see tons of jerseys or fun things from the golfers and the crowd used to do their homework and chant funny nicknames.  Will be interesting to see next year if the 16th is taking a turn or if it was just an off year. 

[gjunkie57]

Congrats! It was a tough 4th round tho.  That 7 he took on the back nine could have derailed him but he took it in stride, regrouped and won. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, gjunkie57 said:

Congrats! It was a tough 4th round tho.  That 7 he took on the back nine could have derailed him but he took it in stride, regrouped and won. 

He did, and we had a topic about it already, so I merged your post here.

[rehmwa]

So to Ricky's triple bogie.  I suspect when the pros, after ineffective drops, get to hand place the ball, would certainly try to delicately perch the ball as best they can.  On steep lies like this they seem to really be terrified the ball will roll on, but still do it, and then stare at it a bit.  I know the preference is a perfect and perched lie, but is there anything in placing the ball that would restrict them from settling it down a little deeper in the grass if that's possible?

(Yes, understand that Ricky's specific situation where placing it and watching it for a bit before pullng the tees is extremely rare.  understand that they even don't seem to mind taking a practice swing in the area and balls just about never get loose......Just wondering if they are required to perch it up like that vs nestling it down a bit to ensure it stays put.)

I don't know if I've ever seen this except on ridiculously windy days....still, up to the player to be sure before declaring it's back in play.

[klineka]

17 minutes ago, rehmwa said:

still, up to the player to be sure before declaring it's back in play.

Doesn't the ball automatically become back in play once the player has placed it and the ball is at rest? 

 

I have a somewhat different question that I think I know the answer to but want to make sure.

Once the ball rolled into the water the second time, Fowler could not have gone back to the fairway where his 3rd shot was from since the ball was already in play on the hillside, correct? 

[RemyM]

6 hours ago, klineka said:

 

I have a somewhat different question that I think I know the answer to but want to make sure.

Once the ball rolled into the water the second time, Fowler could not have gone back to the fairway where his 3rd shot was from since the ball was already in play on the hillside, correct? 

Since he didn't make a stroke at the ball before it rolled into the penalty area the second time, he still had the option to go back to where he last made a stroke.

Edited February 5, 2019 by RemyM

[iacas]

8 hours ago, rehmwa said:

(Yes, understand that Ricky's specific situation where placing it and watching it for a bit before pullng the tees is extremely rare.  understand that they even don't seem to mind taking a practice swing in the area and balls just about never get loose......Just wondering if they are required to perch it up like that vs nestling it down a bit to ensure it stays put.)

They're not really allowed to "push" the ball into the grass or anything.

8 hours ago, klineka said:

Doesn't the ball automatically become back in play once the player has placed it and the ball is at rest? 

Yeah, pros can't "declare" that a ball is "in play." Their actions determine it or not. Any time in 2018 that you dropped a ball (except accidentally), the ball became "in play". You could pick it up if it was incorrectly dropped in the wrong place or something, but it was "in play" at that point regardless.

1 hour ago, RemyM said:

Since he didn't make a stroke at the ball before it rolled into the penalty area the second time, he still had the option to go back to where he last made a stroke.

Yes, but it still would have cost him the second penalty stroke.

[gbogey]

Was there any discussion about the drop Grace took on 17?  He dropped from knee height but he was squatting while he did it.  Seemed to me to be a violation but I haven't heard mention of it.

[klineka]

8 minutes ago, gbogey said:

Was there any discussion about the drop Grace took on 17?  He dropped from knee height but he was squatting while he did it.  Seemed to me to be a violation but I haven't heard mention of it.

It doesnt matter what position your body is in as long as you drop the ball from knee height.

You can technically lay on your back and reach your arm to the sky and drop the ball as long as your arm reaches to knee height and the ball doesnt touch you when you drop it.

Edited February 5, 2019 by klineka

[gbogey]

But it appeared to me that he dropped at the height of his knees while squatting (as in the bottom right picture), not standing knee height.  I was expecting someone to jump in and correct him but no one did.  But maybe I didn't see it right.

[klineka]

2 minutes ago, gbogey said:

But it appeared to me that he dropped at the height of his knees while squatting (as in the bottom right picture), not standing knee height.  I was expecting someone to jump in and correct him but no one did.  But maybe I didn't see it right.

That's definitely above his squatting knee height and probably pretty close to his standing knee height. I saw an instagram story (only available for 24 hrs so its gone now) where someone put a transparent image of Grace standing there right before he squatted down and where he dropped from was pretty much exactly knee height.

[gbogey]

Agree - that picture is clearer than the angle I was watching from.