A little-employed ruling helped Nelly Korda breathe life into Team USA's chances at the Solheim Cup.
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TOLEDO, Ohio — Playing in her second straight session of the day at Inverness Club, Nelly Korda found herself in the midst of a tight four-ball match against the European duo of Nanna Koerstz-Madsen and Madelene Sagstrom.
With a large contingent of fans following the match, which was tied through 12 holes, Korda faced a big breaking putt for eagle on the par-5 13th hole.
She pulled back her putter, made contact with the ball and watched as it tracked all the way to the edge of the cup.
Korda’s putt looked so good that she dropped to her knees in disbelief when it stopped just shy of tumbling in for eagle.
But what happened next might have been a saving grace for Team USA, which struggled in the morning session to put points on the board.
In an attempt to concede the remaining tap-in, Sagstrom picked up Korda’s ball and tossed it to her.
That’s when things got interesting…
Unusual conceded-putt ruling at Solheim Cup helps breathe life into Team USA
A little-employed ruling helped Nelly Korda breathe life into Team USA's chances at the Solheim Cup.
GETTY IMAGES
TOLEDO, Ohio — Playing in her second straight session of the day at Inverness Club, Nelly Korda found herself in the midst of a tight four-ball match against the European duo of Nanna Koerstz-Madsen and Madelene Sagstrom.
With a large contingent of fans following the match, which was tied through 12 holes, Korda faced a big breaking putt for eagle on the par-5 13th hole.
She pulled back her putter, made contact with the ball and watched as it tracked all the way to the edge of the cup.
Korda’s putt looked so good that she dropped to her knees in disbelief when it stopped just shy of tumbling in for eagle.
But what happened next might have been a saving grace for Team USA, which struggled in the morning session to put points on the board.
In an attempt to concede the remaining tap-in, Sagstrom picked up Korda’s ball and tossed it to her.
That’s when things got interesting…
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After a brief conversation between Koerstz-Madsen, Sagstrom and a rules official, the U.S. side was granted a 1-up lead.
Wait, what just happened?
The confusion centered around whether Korda’s ball was overhanging the edge of the hole. If it was, she was entitled to a reasonable amount of time to reach her ball and 10 seconds to determine whether the ball had stopped moving.
As Rule 13.3 A states:
“If any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole, the player is allowed a reasonable time to reach the hole and ten more seconds to wait to see whether the ball will fall into the hole.”
Sagstrom and Koerstz-Madsen contended that the ball was not overhanging the hole when they picked it up. But after officials reviewed video replay and a photo of the ball, they determined that Korda’s ball was in fact ever-so-slightly overhanging the cup.
In this instance, picking up Korda’s ball took away her right to make her way to the hole and the 10-second wait time to determine if the ball had stopped moving.
“Obviously I wasn’t following the rules about leaving the ball for 10 seconds,” Sagstrom said afterward. “But I do believe in integrity and honor of the game of golf, and I would never pick up a putt that had a chance to go in.”
As a result, Korda’s putt was considered holed and she and Ewing went 1 up, an edge they maintained through the remainder of the match. The turn of events breathed some much needed life into the U.S.’s bid to win back the Solheim Cup.
“We had no ill will,” Ewing said. “But the rules committee did reach that decision. It rattled both teams and we had to fight through it.”
After Day 1, Europe leads the U.S., 5.5 to 2.5.
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Bryson DeChambeau works rules to his advantage, gets two useful drops
Bryson DeChambeau on Friday on the 14th hole at East Lake Golf Club.
GOLF CHANNEL
Relief after losing his ball over a fence. Relief after hitting his ball just outside of a bunker.
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Both drops came on the second half of the back nine on Friday at the Tour Championship. On the 537-yard, par-4 14th at East Lake Golf Club, DeChambeau hit his tee shot right, into trees and over a green fence marked as a temporary immovable obstruction (TIO). The ball was not found, but DeChambeau, after a discussion with an official, was able to take relief left of the fence thanks to Model Local Rule F-23 of the Rules of Golf, which states: “If the player’s ball has not been found but is known or virtually certain to have come to rest in a TIO: The player may take relief under this Local Rule by using the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the TIO on the course as the spot of the ball for purposes of finding the nearest point of complete relief.”
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From there, DeChambeau dropped, punched his ball to the front of the green and three-putted for a bogey five.
“When he hit that initial drive there, it was signaled by the volunteers that it was out of bounds, but out of bounds is actually way, way right of this fairway,” analyst Jim “Bones” Mackay said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “There’s a TIO fence over here. They were not able to find Bryson’s ball, but official John Mutch just told Bryson your ball is lost in the TIO, you’ll get free relief here away from this fence, and you’ll be playing your second shot here shortly.”
Said analyst Justin Leonard: “This is similar if there was a grandstand out there to the right of the 14th fairway. You don’t necessarily have to find it. You just have to have very reasonable evidence that it is in there.”
Three holes later, on the 423-yard, par-4 17th, DeChambeau hit his tee shot left and into trees, then punched out to just right of a greenside bunker and onto what was ruled a sod seam. He’d get relief here, too. According to Model Local Rule F-7, a drop may be taken if “a ball lies in one of the cut turf seams.”
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Only this time after his drop, DeChambeau pitched on, his ball landed about 10 feet short of the hole, and it rolled in for a birdie 3. He’d finish the round with a three-under 67 and is at 11-under overall, six shots back of leader Patrick Cantlay.
“So up at the green, DeChambeau was given relief and ends up chipping it in,” analyst Gary Koch said on the broadcast. “Got to drop it and ended up with a much better lie than he had. Was it sod seam or something?”
“Exactly right,” Mackay said. “I thought initially it was a sprinkler, but there was a sod seam in the area, which I think they had to go with.”
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