After Cameron Smith was assessed a two-shot penalty on Sunday for playing a ball from the wrong place on the fourth hole during his third round, PGA Tour’s Chief Referee, Gary Young, has now explained the decision, with Smith not being informed of the breach until 11am (GMT) this morning.
Speaking to the media, Young stated that: “We had seen it yesterday on the live broadcast. We had an official that was looking at it, but at that point, just knowing the awkwardness of camera angles and that he was dropping in a really tight area there at No. 4, the geometry of the whole situation, he’s got basically a sliver he’s dropping the ball in.
“We felt very comfortable at that time that he was familiar with the rule, and that it was such a quick view of it that we had, at that time we decided it wasn’t worth following up on.”
The Chief Referee went on to add: “This is something common that players do every day. After seeing the rebroadcast and seeing it again, we felt that it was pretty close to the line and worth a second look. So we did take a second look at it and sure enough, we felt it was really close to the line, if not touching and possibly on the line. So it was worth asking the player.
“The rules give the player, as long as the player has shown reasonable judgment in determining whether or not his ball was in or out of the penalty area in this situation with his own naked eye, I thought it was simply going to be a situation where I asked Cam the question and he was going to tell him that he was comfortable that his ball was outside the penalty area.
“When I asked him the question, unfortunately, he said to me, “No, the ball was definitely touching the line.” So at that point there’s no turning back. That was a moment where I know that the player has knowledge that the ball was touching the line, he just simply didn’t understand the rule that it requires the entire ball to be outside of the penalty area and in his relief area. So that was the tough part.”
Smith went from starting the day two to four shots back of the lead
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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