Rickochet If she replaced the ball in precisely the same spot without cleaning it there would possibly be no real difference. If she cleaned and replaced it she would be rewarded for hitting a shot more wayward than normal beyond just the rub of the green gained by being far enough off line to land in another fairway. One could reasonably argue that just picking it up may have removed some soil and perhaps improved the lie if it were bonded (plugged) with the surface.
LEXI DOEES IT AGAIN...
I'm a little fan, so would cut her slack here. I'm thinking she's playing a little bit unfocused with the tough personal stuff she's facing. Trying to cope with it while performing at that high level is challenging. Wish her well.
Guys, I've played competitive amateur tournaments at my various golf clubs over the past 20 years. On the rare occasions when there's been an enormous amount of rain prior to the tournament, when lift-clean-place has been instituted - it was always accepted that lift-clean-place only pertained to the fairway of the hole being played. And the head professional always pointed that out. "Your fairway only."
There's no excuse for her breach of the rules. If my weekend group understands that rule, there's no logical excuse for Lexi, a professional, to not understand that rule.
There seems to be a serious disconnect here.
This is a penalty more befitting a 20 handicapper than a touring professional.
My only question would be where the heck was her caddy. That is something that the caddy should have helped with at that point. The caddy needs to know the rules as well especially for something like what happened.
letthebigdogshunt
My thoughts exactly,she needs a caddy who knows the rules and is not afraid to speak up!
Tar and feathers!!!
I'm pretty sure that lift, clean and place is ALWAYS in your own fairway. How could she NOT know this?
If she continues down this road of being penalized for breaching the simplest of rules that most amatuer players know, then at some point her "ignorance" involving these situations will be called into question, and what would otherwise be seen as a brain fart situation will morph into one of willful intent to gain an unfair advantage.
She needs to clean this part of her game up, otherwise she's gonna earn a bad reputation imo.
She just seems aloof to the rules on occasion, but this is her career, her livelihood. She's competing for a lot of money. At some point people are gonna stop assuming she just simply had a brain fart.
johnnydoom I like Lexi and will continue to root for her, but I felt the ball marking violation she was once cited for was a willful attempt to avoid some imperfection in front of, or under her ball. This one I think was a mistake, but still worthy of the penalty since it would have potentially given her an unmerited advantage.
I like her too. But I think the rules snafus she's run into are not of the typical complicated variety. I mean, if she's getting penalized for dropping in the wrong area and not exactly sure where her ball crossed the margin of the hazard, or perhaps something similar... I would be less critical.
But the ball mark incident, and then this.... I mean - how does someone who has played the game as many years as she has, at the level she's played, not know that lift-clean-place only pertains to the fairway of the hole she's playing?
It's just mind boggling to me.
This ain't a Saturday morning playing with friends for a $5 nassau... this is the big leagues. Lots of money on the line, and it's expected that the players either know the rules, or check with a rules official for clarity before doing something that might otherwise have them potentially running afoul of the rules.
She's a professional. The onus is on her to know the rules. These rules infractions aren't that complicated. So if the common theme continues - at what point does someone stop assuming she's not trying to get away with something?
sdandrea1 iirc reading about this, it was a slip up on her part as she realized what she had done as soon as she did it. Said something to her caddy immediately about it, and put the ball back in place, as I read it. The official was johnny-on-the-spot and came right over and let her know.
If the above is correct, surely she intended to mark the penalty for touching the ball.
People always want to make something of nothing. Just look at TIger and his cheating/whoring ways.
This would be akin to rolling the ball in the fairway during a tournament when the ball is being played down. A brain fart? Perhaps. I can't pretend to know her intentions.
But she's gone through two major rules gaffes now in the past couple of years. And again, they've not been overly complicated as it relates to what is expected of a touring professional.
She's human, for sure. But nevertheless she needs to address her inability to understand the most basic of rules before she starts getting a bad reputation. And you can't blame the caddie for either one of them.
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We play lift, clean and place (fairways only) on any holes that have cart path only. We don't have any parallel fairways so this type situation never comes up.
This is another case of no one knows all the rules. We play with guys who didn't know in a lift, clean and place situation it runs thru the green. Meaning you can clean your ball anywhere on the collar of the green.
Too many rules.
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Lift, Clean and Place is not in the Rules of Golf (it is a condition) and varies from one committee to the next. For example, on the PGA and Web Tours, they offer LCP on all closely mown areas. If a player hits his ball onto a wrong fairway, he gets relief. This was probably a case of her not reading the Rules sheet before playing that day.
Correct. Ive played in two competive events in the past few weeks and both had rules in place for " conditions"
In One was lift, clean and place within a scorecard length only in your own fairway.
In the other it was lift ( no clean) and place within one clublength in the fairway ( any fairway)
In both cases no closer to the hole.
Sneakylong "This is another case of no one knows all the rules."
fnufan and AtticusFinch beg to differ. ;-)
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Sneakylong This is another case of no one knows all the rules. We play with guys who didn't know in a lift, clean and place situation it runs thru the green. Meaning you can clean your ball anywhere on the collar of the green.
Too many rules.
As somebody above said this is NOT an official rule under the rules of golf....it is an addition or exception that is made by a tournament committee based on the conditions of play. I think at one time it was in an appendix under local rules...but it can and does vary by situiation
In all such cases players and caddies would receive notice , usually through written local rules and such which are given out to players and caddies at the event. There is no excuse for Lexi and her caddy to not know this....and if Im not mistaken she made a similar such mistake before. it really has nothing to do with knowing the rules of golf and everything to do with being prepared and having some semblance of intelligence and responsibility
In both the recent tournies I played with the committee local rule we received a rules sheet as is always the case.
found this which explains it well...
" When it rains a lot in a golf tournament, tournament officials and the committee will often decide to allow players to play under lift, clean and place rules -- also known as preferred lies. The idea with lift, clean and place is to let the field get rewarded for hitting and staying in the fairways instead of potentially penalizing them with a nasty mudball after rain.Here's how lift, clean and place works (typically): If a golfer is hitting their current shot from a lie in the fairway of the hole they're playing, then they're able to pick up the golf ball (after first marking the original spot with a tee or other marker), clean off the golf ball, then put it back by placing it in a spot within a scorecard's length of the original position.
That wiggle room in which a player can place the ball can sometimes change. Sometimes it's a club. Sometimes it's a different measure. But, typically, a scorecard length, or about 6 inches, is the way to go."