The Cink rule!

[blade_man]

CHANGED!!

By Andrew Both PA SportsTicker Golf Writer CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) - Some rulings you win and some you lose - and this time Stewart Cink won. Cink, who is starting to make a habit of unusual rules incidents, received the benefit of the doubt following an unusual happening during the third round at the Wachovia Championship on Saturday. At the par-3 17th, Cink\'s ball trickled inside the water hazard line beyond the green, but stopped on the rock wall, a foot or so from toppling into the water. While lining up his next shot, Cink touched a hand on the ground inside the hazard line. Officials at first were inclined to penalize Cink two strokes for violating rule 13-4, only to withdraw the penalty after further review. Their decision allowed Cink to sign for 65 and remain very much in the hunt, five strokes from the lead with one round left at Quail Hollow. \"Clumsily, I used my hand to balance and get down really low and look at the putt, and my hand happened to be inside the hazard line,\" Cink explained. \"Immediately, I knew I needed to call a rules official to discuss it. I wasn\'t sure whether it was going to be a penalty or not.\" After completing the round, Cink discussed the incident with rules official Tony Wallin. \"At that point it looked like it might be a two-stroke penalty, but as we discussed it and got into the details, one of the exceptions under rule 13-4 is that to prevent falling, you\'re allowed to touch the ground in a hazard as long as nothing is done that constitutes testing the hazard,\" Wallin said. \"He (Cink) clearly did not test the hazard. I even called the USGA (United States Golf Association) just to make sure my decision was correct and had it confirmed.\" Cink was not so fortunate a month ago in New Orleans, where he was disqualified in bizarre circumstances for violating a rule that hardly anybody even knew. In the third round, he took his stance in a fairway bunker to play his ball, which was up against the lip. His shot subsequently found a greenside bunker, nearly 200 yards away. His caddie then raked the fairway bunker, but under what at the time was a rule, you could not rake the first bunker until your ball was no longer in the next bunker. Cink only found out about it the next day, so he was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. The obscure rule has since been scrapped by the USGA.

Didn't take them long to get rid of that one! Cink has a nack for rules now the USGA is thinking of assigning a rules official just for Cink....... :lol:

[Joe Schmoe]

Sometimes the rules get in the way of the spirit of the game. In both cases Cink was just trying to play the game without harming himself or others.

[blade_man]

I agree totally, but you sometimes have to wonder "what the heck?" when you read a rule or see one like this, I can see not raking if you don't get out of the bunker your in but one 200 yds down the fairway? :lol:

[MoGolf]

Glad to see someone at the USGA used some common sense in reviewing, and changing, this stupid rule.

Good on them.

[paulyb]

This is from the current rules of golf

 

 

 

3. If the player makes a stroke from a hazard and the ball comes to rest in another hazard, Rule 13-4a does not apply to any subsequent actions taken in the hazard from which the stroke was made.

 

 

13-4. Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions

 

Except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard (whether a bunker or a water hazard) or that, having been lifted from a hazard, may be dropped or placed in the hazard, the player must not:

 

a. Test the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard;

 

 

What was there to change? The rule was right there the whole time. Right?

[billsboy]

This was gone over here when it happened, and the issue was that he did not take a stroke from the first hazard. The ball was never in the first hazard for him to take a stroke from it. But Cink did have to stand in the first hazard to hit his ball, which went into the second hazard. The violation was because his caddy raked (tested) the first bunker while his ball was still in the second (similar) bunker, waiting for Cink to take a stroke at it.

[KevCarter]

This is from the current rules of golf

 

 

 

3. If the player makes a stroke from a hazard and the ball comes to rest in another hazard, Rule 13-4a does not apply to any subsequent actions taken in the hazard from which the stroke was made.

 

 

13-4. Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions

 

Except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard (whether a bunker or a water hazard) or that, having been lifted from a hazard, may be dropped or placed in the hazard, the player must not:

 

a. Test the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard;

 

 

What was there to change? The rule was right there the whole time. Right?

 

Here is the new interpretation from a month ago...

 

http://www.usga.org/news/2008/april/JRCAnnouncement.html

 

Kevin

[paulyb]

My bad. I forgot his ball wasn't in the first hazard.

[ZBigStick]

Cink also had a favorable ruling when he won the Heritage tournament at Hilton Head. His ball rested in a waste area and was allowed to use a tee to clear loose impediments from behind his ball. As the waste area is all loose impediments he was able to clear enough of the stones that his ball appeared almost teed up. Knowing the rules on occasion can help a golfer.