Kevin Na Break a Rule?

[volrus]

at Heritage

I was following Rickie Fowler and Na at the Heritage yesterday on the front 9 because Rickie was on fire! Anyway, I could have sworn Na broke a rule on the 5th green when he reached down to mark his ball on the green and as he placed the mark behind the ball, it rolled back a little. It did change position and I'm almost certain Na had not removed his hand from his mark when it happened. He called in a rules official and I swear I think I heard him say he had removed his hand when it rolled but it didn't look like it to me. Now, keep in mind that I saw it as it happened from about 15 feet away so I certainly could have missed something or not seen it correctly, but im just saying what I think I saw. Also, for what it's worth, he seems like a jerk out there. after a bad bunker shot on 5 he slammed his club into the bunker and then on the next tee (after the green incident in which no penalty was assessed) he hit his drive right and turned around and slammed his driver into the ground and took a chunk out of the tee! I wasn't impressed.

Did he break a rule?

[lkangsterl]

if he called in a rules official and after the two of them discussed what happened no penalty was assessed, then he didn't break a rule.

[elunoputter]

there is no penalty if a ball moves when marking the ball or picking up the mark...just as there is no penalty if the marker moves when marking a ball....

you just put the ball or marker in the proper place...

now after this is done, and you move the marker or the ball (it is now in play) there is a penalty.

[volrus]

Thanks, when it first happened I wasn't 100% sure that he didn't make it move by hitting his ball with the mark but I don't think he did. If that had happened would that have been a penalty?

[Sawgrass]

Segment of rule 20-1:

If a ball or ball-marker is accidentally [url="http://www.usga.org/workarea/linkit.aspx?linkidentifier=id&itemid=14253#Moved"][i]moved[/i][/url] in the process of lifting the ball under a [url="http://www.usga.org/workarea/linkit.aspx?linkidentifier=id&itemid=14253#Rules"][i]Rule[/i][/url] or marking its position, the ball or ball-marker must be replaced. There is no penalty, provided the movement of the ball or ball-marker is directly attributable to the specific act of marking the position of or lifting the ball. Otherwise, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke under this Rule or Rule [url="http://www.usga.org/workarea/linkit.aspx?linkidentifier=id&itemid=14288#18-2"]18-2a[/url].

[Big Ben]

I think Na was OK but I swear KJ was testing the surface and/or building a stance in the 18th bunker. I think the announcer even commented on being careful not to get set to early...BB

[roll - gybe]

I was following them too, but I started after Fowler got hot.

On 11 or 12 - par 4 slight dogleg right pin back left... Na spent a long time fidgeting over his 4 footer, which I think he missed. He remarked several times, and I was pretty sure something happened on one of the remarks when he was crouched, kind of re-reading the putt. Fowler was off the green not watching.

I got a bad feeling and it seemed like something wasn't in the right place. It seemed to me that the continued fidgeting was some kind of guilty distraction to keep people from seeing the ball move. I really thought I smelled a fish.

I dunno, I'm not accusing anything, [u]but since you brought it up, I thought I saw something weird too.
[/u]
I also saw him fix a lot of marks in his line without consulting his partner in the course of the round. Made me think back to when Angel wouldn't let him fix one.