In case you neglected it, that is one of the craziest rule infractions I've ever heard... And reputedly even the regulations officials were given it incorrect!
Here's the deal: The US team of Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson are playing fourballs against the International team of Adam Scott and Jason Day. The teams are all square on the 7th tee. Then Phil tees off with a different type of Callaway ball, apparently to get more distance off the tee. It appears that this is legal in most of the matches.
But according to the Captain's Agreement, this is a rules infraction in fourballs only that will result in an "adjustment" of the score at the end of the hole. Phil was apparently told -- incorrectly -- that he was DQ'ed from the hole so he picked up his ball and Zach finished out on his own.
Now it gets thrilling.
Zach misplaced the hole so Scott and Day move 1up. THEN the score receives adjusted... And Scott and Day are actually 2-up. And when they tee off at the 8th, Phil can not pass returned and end out the hole.
As a result, Phil and Zach lost the same hole twice. And US Captain Jay Haas told GC that they were trying to find out exactly what Phil was told and whether that affects the ruling in some way, so rules official Mark Russell entered the fray. The matches continued, of course, but the momentum had changed as the International team appeared to flip another losing session into a winning one. I don't know that this one match was responsible for all of that, but I suspect it will get the credit. We humans like to have simple explanations for things, after all.
And simply to make things extra exciting, even the live scoreboard at presidentscup.Com did not get the score accurate. They by no means showed the 2up score.
While I become writing that, Phil and Zach received the 9th hole and went to only 1down. The stay scoreboard then confirmed that suit all square... Nonetheless incorrect.
After the assembly with Mark Russell, Jay Haas received an apology. It seems the ruling committee did indeed inform Phil he were DQ'ed. Which become an error. However -- and we shouldn't really amazed by way of this, given that this is the way it works in maximum sports activities while the officials make a awful name -- Russell stated there was nothing they may do about now. (Will some thing be executed later? That remains to be visible, however I critically doubt it.)
In the interim, Phil and Zach were given the match lower back to all rectangular... And the stay scoreboard become STILL wrong! And the momentum appeared to be changing again, despite the fact that the International crew still led the consultation average.
It's loopy regulations like this that make golf incomprehensible to most humans, although they play the game. How did such a peculiar issue get into the Captain's Agreement within the first place? It seems to me that, because you can't make modifications to golf equipment at some stage in play, you shouldn't be capable of exchange the type of ball you operate both. Rules have to make the game less complicated, now not harder to understand.
The irony of it all is that this will be the very aspect that in the end turns the Presidents Cup right into a competitive in shape. Remember what passed off after 'GimmeGate' on the Solheim Cup multiple weeks back! The query will become... Who will subsequently gain that competitive area?
But given that Phil just holed out from a fairway bunker for eagle at 12 to put him and Zach returned in front, I'm now not so certain it'll be the International group.
Btw, as I completed up this put up, the stay scoreboard at presidentscup.Com STILL hadn't got it right.
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