[Double Gee]

3rd round at the 11th.

His 3rd shot from the bunker is poor and goes into another bunker 50 yards away. Tiger in anger, hits the sand with his club ...

NOW, according to the Rules of golf, he should be penalised because his ball is in a similar surface to the hazard he has just played from.

Remember Stewart Cink being penalised 2 shots because his caddy raked a bunker, after Cink had bunkered on the same hole!

Guess Tiger will get away with it again.

[littlepingman]

I don't think its a penalty because his ball landed in a different bunker. Had it landed in the same bunker he was playing he would be penalized, but since it didn't there is no penalty. A similar thing happened to Annika a few years back, she hit a bunker shot that stayed in the bunker she was in, it was a rather large bunker and she didn't think about the ball being in the same bunker and she took a practice swing, it resulted in a penalty. I remember them saying she could take that practice swing had the ball not finished in the same bunker she was playing.

So no penalty for Tiger because its the rule, not because he is special... LOL...

[bfactor1282]

I may be wrong, but didn't they change that rule after the Cink situation so that it doesn't happen again?

[iteachgolf]

Yep no penalty unless its in the same bunker

[Double Gee]

oh, I didnt realise it had been changed - I remember Cink's mishap so i guess the Rule change was a sensible one... Tiger, I take it all back!

[bfactor1282]

Upon further investigation, Cink's situation was different anyway as his first shot was not technically from a bunker, but his stance was in the bunker.

[kal32473]

First of all, it was a different bunker, so no dice. Second of all, unless he took his finger and actually moved the sand behind the ball ala Stewart Cink, no dice. Third of all, he didn't break any rule, so no dice.

[tmfan54]

agreed wit the above people. but also if you observant people noticed rod pampling's caddy raked the first bunker for stevie. i THINK that stevie would have had to wait for tiger to play his second bunker shot before he would have been allowed to rake the first bunker, not sure. maybe pamplings caddy was just helpin a brother out.

[Hidalgo]

TMfan54, on Jul 4 2009, 05:06 PM, said:

agreed wit the above people. but also if you observant people noticed rod pampling's caddy raked the first bunker for stevie. i THINK that stevie would have had to wait for tiger to play his second bunker shot before he would have been allowed to rake the first bunker, not sure. maybe pamplings caddy was just helpin a brother out.

Nope...different bunker, so he could have raked it if he so desired. The caddies do that for each other anytime that it speeds up play.

[jeffreyu]

Just go back to this years Masters, Rory Mcilroy hit the sand in disgust after a bad bunker shot and he was not penalized because he was not testing the sand, same thing with Tiger.

[ballshagger]

jeffreyu, on Jul 4 2009, 07:25 PM, said:

Just go back to this years Masters, Rory Mcilroy hit the sand in disgust after a bad bunker shot and he was not penalized because he was not testing the sand, same thing with Tiger.

the decision that the masters officials had at that point, was there intent. after they spoke with rory, apparently all was better.
for what its worth.

[grasbunkers]

rule has been changed after cink< you can now rake the bunker even if you are in the same bunker the only time there would be a penalty is if you were to hit the ball back intio the bunker where you or the caddy had raked , some bunkers are now so large that you could advance a ball 100 yards or so and still be in the same bunker

[jzatl04]

kal32473, on Jul 4 2009, 03:51 PM, said:

First of all, it was a different bunker, so no dice. Second of all, unless he took his finger and actually moved the sand behind the ball ala Stewart Cink, no dice. Third of all, he didn't break any rule, so no dice.

That was a waste area that Cink moved debris around in at Hilton Head. The OP was referencing a completely different incident from two or three years ago in which Cink broke a rule because his caddie raked a bunker before he played out of another bunker down the fairway. They changed the rule after realizing how time-consuming it would be for the caddie to walk back down the hole to rake a bunker.

[ctime]

Like the others have said there is no penalty because the ball went into a different bunker.

On a separate note why do people feel the need to watch a golf tournament and then question every little thing a player does. I can't believe people actually call in all these things they think are rules violations(I don't think the OP did call it in or at least I hope he didn't). Watch the golf tournament and enjoy it. There are officials on the course who can enforce the rules!

[drpino]

explanation of the Cink incident and the "reinterpretation" of the applicable rule:

http://lindamillergo...unker-rule.html

Quote

If any of you were watching the Zurich Classic on TV and saw Stewart Cink penalized for raking the sand in one bunker when his ball lay in another bunker (see “Cink Incident” below), you may be interested to know that the USGA and the R&A (Royal and Ancient) re-interpreted this rule at their April meeting. I was wandering around the USGA website today and came across the following announcement:

The Joint Rules Committee (JRC, which is made up of reps from the R&A and the USGA), decided that while Rule 13-4a prohibits a player from testing the condition of a hazard when his ball lies in a nearby, similar hazard (raking would be considered testing the condition), this might seem to contradict the section on etiquette in the rule book that advises players to rake the bunker before leaving it. Not wishing to violate their own rules of etiquette, the new ruling states that if a player’s ball lies in one bunker, it is not a penalty if he smoothes the sand in another bunker, provided that (1) he is doing so in order to neaten the bunker for following players, (2) he is not improving his stance or swing or line of play for his next stroke, and (3) it is unlikely that his next stroke will come to rest in that same area.

Please be aware that it is still a two-stroke penalty to rake the sand in the bunker in which your ball lies BEFORE you hit your ball.

If you would like to read this new ruling in its entirety, visit this link:
http://www.usga.org/...nouncement.html

Cink Incident
Cink’s ball, incidentally, wasn’t even in the bunker; he had to stand in the bunker to hit his ball which was just outside the bunker. He hit that shot into a greenside bunker. His caddie then raked the bunker he had been standing in to smooth his footprints. It was ruled that Cink had breached Rule 13-4a by testing the conditions of a hazard when your ball lies in a similar hazard (a player is penalized for actions taken by his caddie). Cink was not aware of this rule, so he signed a scorecard that did not include the two-stroke penalty he had incurred. The penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard –for a score that is lower than what you shot– is disqualification, and Cink was therefore disqualified.

Here’s an interesting sidelight: If Cink’s caddie had not raked the trap, Cink would have been fined by the PGA; if Cink returned to rake the trap after playing his ball out of the greenside bunker, he might have been penalized for undue delay; if a following golfer hit a ball that landed in Cink’s footprint in the sand, that golfer would face an unfairly difficult shot. The rule was a bit of a Catch-22 for the golfer, so it would seem that the golf gurus made a wise decision to re-interpret the rule.

Copyright © 2008 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.

[Double Gee]

ctime, on Jul 4 2009, 10:04 PM, said:

Like the others have said there is no penalty because the ball went into a different bunker.

On a separate note why do people feel the need to watch a golf tournament and then question every little thing a player does. I can't believe people actually call in all these things they think are rules violations(I don't think the OP did call it in or at least I hope he didn't). Watch the golf tournament and enjoy it. There are officials on the course who can enforce the rules!

Of course I didnt phone it in - it was meant for a post and discussion on here...... but next time, my phone is on speed dial