Original ball found after hitting replacement

[atlanta golfer]

Rules Question on finding lost ball after hitting replacement

This has happened twice in past few rounds I've played. One player hits a ball near the tree line. We think it can be found so a provisional is NOT hit. We get to the area where the ball was hit and spend several minutes searching for it but we can't find it. Do we spend 5 minutes, the limit? Not sure but probably not that long. So the player goes back to where he hit the lost shot and plays a second shot. Meanwhile, others keep looking and so does he on his way back and forth to hit a replacement. Maybe he says "provisional" but probably not because we assume the first ball is lost. So he hits a replacement shot. As he walks to this shot, but before he strikes it a second time, either he or someone else in the group finally finds the first lost ball. What is the ruling? Can the original ball still be played, as long as the replacement ball was not hit a second time? Does the whole thing hinge on whether he stated "provisional"? Or what if the 5 minutes is past?

[Hungsolo]

once he declares the ball is lost, it's lost and no longer in play (even if you find it). Also, you cannot go back to hit a provisional. A provisional must be played before going off to hunt for your ball.

[DRGJR72]

Once the search time of 5 minutes is completed, the ball is to be considered abandoned, and even if it is found it is no longer in play.

 

Lost Ball

A ball is deemed “lost’’ if:

 

a. It is not found or identified as his by the player within five minutes after the player’s side or his or their caddies have begun to search for it; or

b. The player has made a stroke at a substituted ball; or

c. The player has made a stroke at a provisional ball from the place where the original ball is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that place.

 

Time spent in playing a wrong ball is not counted in the five-minute period allowed for search.

 

 

A provisional must be played prior to leaving the area that the "pontential lost ball was played from" Once you have left the tee or area, then you cannot go back and play a provisional.

 

Hope that helps...

 

DG

[hbear]

Only exception is if the ball was holed out. "e.g. you think you lost the ball near the green...but it's in the hole"

You can go though the "I lost my ball...go back and rehit, etc."

But should you find your original ball in the hole...the original ball counts as the hole had been deemed finished when the ball was holed out (whether or not you knew it had been)