News
An unbelievable rules blunder from Mickelson, committee at the Presidents Cup
The good news: Despite a blunder and an almost inconceivable lapse on the part of the rules committee at the Presidents Cup, Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson managed to halve their match with Jason Day and Adam Scott.
The bad news: Well, pretty much everything that happened on the seventh hole for the U.S. side.
All square with Jason Day and Adam Scott in their fourball match, Phil Mickelson decided to put a firmer golf ball in play on the par-five seventh hole, apparently believing it would give him a better chance of reaching the green in two.
Mickelson, reportedly, thought he was in the clear as there is no one-ball rule in Ryder Cup competition when the event is held in the U.S. Thus, Lefty seems to have assumed similar standards applied to Presidents Cup competitions outside of the U.S.
Unfortunately, he was wong.
In Presidents Cup play, the one-ball rule is in effect. Thus, a player cannot switch the type of ball he is playing during a round.
Here’s some clarification on the rule from the USGA’s Decisions in the Rules of Golf.
Rule 15-1: Changing golf balls during a hole or a stipulated round: “…When changing balls, the player is permitted to substitute a ball of another brand or type unless the Committee has adopted the One Ball Condition of Competition (see Appendix I; Part C; Section 1c). This optional condition (usually referred to as ‘The One Ball Rule’) is generally adopted only in events that are limited to professional golfers or highly-skilled amateur golfers. Generally, this condition of competition is not adopted in club-level competitions.”
“I tried to put a firmer ball in play,” Mickelson said of the decision. “As we were walking down after I did it, I was sure there was no one ball rule, I was there with captain Haas and said ‘Will you just check?’ We’ve never really had it and I didn’t think much about it. But it’s my responsibility to know that.
What they found out, additionally, was that the penalty for such an offence is a “one hole adjustment” i.e. Mickelson and Johnson immediately went from all-square to one-down
Unfortunately, again, it was at this point a secondary blunder occurred.
A rules official incorrectly told Mickelson he was disqualified from the hole, so Phil picked up, leaving Johnson against Day/Scott for the hole. Day won the hole and secured another point, which put Mickelson/Johnson two-down.
The Match Committee got it wrong. As USA Today’s Steve Dimeglio explained, “In fact, Mickelson could have actually played out the hole – either with the wrong ball or after putting the correct ball back into play – and tied Day with a birdie of his own, which then would have meant the Americans would have lost the hole just once because of his breech of the rules.”
And under Decision 34-2/6 of the Rules of Golf, there’s no way to rectify the error. According to a Committee statement, “Once any player in the match plays a subsequent stroke allowing a correction could potentially undermine the strategy already employed by both sides in the match in completing the hole.”
“We’ve never had a one-ball rule that I can think of in these events, or at least that I was aware of. But it’s never been an issue, either. Obviously as a player, you need to know that. You need to know the rules and if you have a question, you do it beforehand.”
It doesn’t appear the blunder will haunt Mickelson, as he offered up a classic FIGJAM quote post-match: “I feel like we spotted the Internationals’ best team two holes and they still couldn’t beat us. Just saying.”
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
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Shack222
Oct 11, 2015 at 2:50 am
By taking 2 different balls out on the course he shows that he had already decided to use this tactic in practise, and he only thought to question wether it was allowed AFTER he’d actually done it???? Stupid man
BT
Oct 10, 2015 at 6:25 pm
It makes no sense to me that you can play out the hole with an illegal ball. So on a par 5 you switch balls to a Pinnacle because you think you won’t get on in 2 with your regular ball. You sink the eagle putt for the win but you lose a hole under one ball rule, effectively halving the hole when you expected to lose. I think you should be dq’ed for the hole/s plus one hole penalty. Without the dq the gain might be worth incurring the penalty.
Note: matchplay was invented before computers. A penalty is not to lose ‘the’ hole but to lose ‘a’ hole. Two 19th century Scotsmen kept track in their heads (2 up, 3 down etc) not filling + or – on a computer leaderboard where there was no space for penalty loss of holes. So for Phil to say they lost the 7th twice is to not understand matchplay.
(And btw Ben, the GolfWRX audience is worldwide so the half in the match isn’t universally good news for your readers.)
Gives
Oct 10, 2015 at 3:56 am
Phil also blundered by making this blunder and exposing the pathetic nature of the American rules in Ryder Cup. Now everybody knows that the Ryder Cup in the US is considered a “club” competition and not a professional one, played with amateur rules.
Steve
Oct 9, 2015 at 7:25 pm
Thanks Phil we all now know for a fact at least two of Callaways balls perform different enough that a pro would change to get more distance…Wonder how much of this ball switching goes on during regular PGA events as there is no ONE BALL RULE in PGA tour events???
1badbadger
Oct 10, 2015 at 3:24 am
PGA Tour events ARE played under the one ball condition…they are not allowed to switch to a different model during a round.
Brian
Oct 9, 2015 at 3:30 pm
FIGJAM
Tom
Oct 9, 2015 at 3:26 pm
This was a regular comedy act unfolding before our eyes.
Mb
Oct 9, 2015 at 2:14 pm
still can’t get over that Phil quote haha, just classic. FIGJAM for life
ooffa
Oct 9, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Maybe he had bet against himself?