Moral Of This Story: Don't Be So Quick To Pick Up Your Provisional
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 01:24 AM
Geoff in 2010 Open Championship, Rules

Nancy Amour on Mark Calcaveccia's nine Saturday:

Calcavecchia's drive landed in a bunker, and he had to play out sideways. His third shot, from the fairway, sailed right and disappeared into the gorse. Thinking the ball was lost, Calcavecchia played a provisional and then went to search for the first ball.

Told his ball had been found, Calcavecchia picked up the provisional. But then he discovered the found ball wasn't his, and he wasn't able to locate it before the five-minute limit expired.

That meant Calcavecchia took the stroke-and-distance penalty (two shots) under the lost-ball rule, and lost another stroke on the penalty for lifting a provisional without authority.

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