Golf Rules Question: What happens in this LOST BALL situation?
What happens in this lost golf ball situation? Is the ball really lost or not?
Think you're clued up on golf's new rules where lost balls are concerned? Test yourself out on this one which was sent in to us from a GolfMagic reader earlier this week.
Extra points if you can name the correct interpretation for this rule question outlined below...
QUESTION
So I was playing in match the other day and hit my ball into the rough.
We searched for two minutes and I found a ball but thought it wasn't mine so didn't identify it.
After three minutes we stopped searching, but then I suddenly realised the ball I'd found after two minutes was indeed mine.
My opponent claimed the ball was lost, but I'd found it after two minutes so surely it wasn't?
What is the ruling here?
ANSWER - courtesy of GolfMagic Rules Expert and PGA Fellow Professional Ashley Weller...
The ball is LOST because it wasn't identified promptly after being found, and the three minute search time had then expired.
Interpretation 18.2(1)/3.
