Referee error ?

[Newby]

[Mikey5e]

Why would it be a refereeing error?

[rogolf]

Rahm should have been permitted to clean his ball.

[Halebopp]

According to what Rahm says, he touched the ball accidentally and the ball didn't move. The ref says the ball moved and hands the penalty. Are you thinking that decision requires further discussion?

 

He could've definitely cleaned the ball, that's a certain error.

[Newby]

According to what Rahm says, he touched the ball accidentally and the ball didn't move. The ref says the ball moved and hands the penalty. Are you thinking that decision requires further discussion?

No

[BrianMcG]

I like how he tried to blame the marker. Like that would make a difference.

[Roadking2003]

Two observations;

 

1. Rohm acted like it wasn't his fault because nobody told him where his ball was. Grow up. You are the only one responsible for the location of your ball !!!

 

2. His caddy immediately told him it was a penalty. Shut up caddy !!!!

[jlbos83]

Two observations;

 

1. Rohm acted like it wasn't his fault because nobody told him where his ball was. Grow up. You are the only one responsible for the location of your ball !!!

 

2. His caddy immediately told him it was a penalty. Shut up caddy !!!!

I think the caddy was trying to avoid any confrontation with the rules official, in an attempt to keep Rahm's famous emotions from getting out of control.

 

It does seem the official was wrong when he said Rahm could not clean the ball.

 

Rahm wanted to claim he touched the ball, but it didn't move. I've thinking if you felt your shoe touch the ball, claining it didn't move (when you did not even see it) is probably not going to fly. Then the question was if he could place it, but the official (correctly, I think), had him drop, since he could not say where the ball was prior to touching it. It was harsh in a way, but in the end, when people say "your ball is over there" you should probably be careful where you put your feet!

[Colin L]

As an aside, there will be no penalty for accidentally moving your ball during a search from next year.

[Newby]

Interesting. We didn't see whether he was 'searching' or just walking in the general area of where his ball might be. Does 'searching' require any particular action like looking at the ground?

[Colin L]

At a guess it should require more than wandering up and expecting someone else to show you where your ball is. :)

 

But we can't really tell in this instance without seeing what he actually did.

[davep043]

Two observations;

 

1. Rohm acted like it wasn't his fault because nobody told him where his ball was. Grow up. You are the only one responsible for the location of your ball !!!

 

2. His caddy immediately told him it was a penalty. Shut up caddy !!!!

I think the caddy was trying to avoid any confrontation with the rules official, in an attempt to keep Rahm's famous emotions from getting out of control.

 

It does seem the official was wrong when he said Rahm could not clean the ball.

 

Rahm wanted to claim he touched the ball, but it didn't move. I've thinking if you felt your shoe touch the ball, claining it didn't move (when you did not even see it) is probably not going to fly. Then the question was if he could place it, but the official (correctly, I think), had him drop, since he could not say where the ball was prior to touching it. It was harsh in a way, but in the end, when people say "your ball is over there" you should probably be careful where you put your feet!

I find it pretty contradictory that Rahm claimed that he felt his shoe touch the ball, but the ball didn't move, then later then said he didn't know where the ball started. To me, that's evidence enough that he could not know that the ball didn't move, so the conclusion is that it DID move. He could have placed the ball, in fact was required to place it in its original location if he could identify its original location. Since he could not, he was required to drop it. I'd say the official got all that correct. I do agree that he should have been allowed to clean the ball.

[bknaepen]

I agree that Rahm's statements were not convincing concerning the movement of the ball and that it's more likely than not that the ball moved given the circumstances.

 

But the referee was not on top of his game when he told Rahm that the reason for the penalty was that he touched his ball. Rahm even asked "even if it did not move?", and the referee responded yes...

[jlbos83]

Watching the video, it seemed that the official was not all that interested in determining what happened, and wanted to get away as fast as he could. It does seem that he may have come to the right ruling (other than not allowing cleaning) for the wrong reasons.

[SkiSchoolPro]

Touching the ball accidently with your club is NOT a penalty if the ball does not move or only occilates, correct?

 

 

[Halebopp]

Touching the ball accidently with your club is NOT a penalty if the ball does not move or only occilates, correct?

 

Correct, you can touch your ball accidentally by any means and there's no penalty as long as the ball doesn't move. You can also touch the ball intentionally with your club when addressing the ball, but even then, you can't move the ball. Rule 18-2.