Provisional Ball Play

Question
I was playing in a tournament today and an opponent hit her tee shot into some trees. She decided to hit a provisional, which went into the fairway. We went to where her first ball went and found it. She did not have a good lie and told my other opponent and I she would hit her provisional and take a stroke penalty. The way I understood the rule was that she needed to either take an unplayable and move her ball out from under the tree or hit the ball as it lies. If you find your first ball and is it in bounds you must play it correct? And this was a high school district tournament, what kind of penalty would you rule this as if we both informed her she was not allowed to hit her provisional?

Answer
Hey Lindsey,

You're correct in that she should not have played the provisional ball.  The provisional ball has to be abandoned if the original ball is found in bounds.  Basically, by playing the provisional ball at this point she hit the wrong ball (Rule 15) and is subject to a 2 stroke penalty.  She would have to have gone back, holed out with the original ball and added the 2 penalty strokes to her score.  If she did not correct this before teeing off on the next hole (or walking off the green if it was the 18th hole) she would be disqualified.  If you both advised her of this and she proceeded anyway, you could probably have brought it to the attention of a coach or rules official and gotten her DQ'd.  You might get her disqualified if the tournament is comprised of more than one round.  The rules in this case are 27 and 15.

I'd pick up a rule book and toss it in your bag for this kind of situation.  If you're playing tournament golf something like this is bound to happen again.

Good luck with your season.

John