‘I have to disqualify myself’: Tour winner’s assumption leads to wild rules DQ

Ben Crane’s good bounce led to him bouncing himself. 

Playing the third round of the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship on Saturday, the five-time Tour winner went left off the tee and toward water on the 8th hole at the Puntacana Resort in the Dominican Republic, then dropped and hit a second ball — and the shots started a sequence that led to Crane disqualifying himself due to a wrong-ball infraction. The news came early Saturday afternoon via a short news release from the PGA Tour.  

According to both a video Crane posted to his X account and those on the grounds, Crane’s first ball had hit rocks and bounced back into play, but he didn’t spot that and believed his ball was gone. Here’s where things get hairy. His second ball finished next to his first ball, and Crane proceeded to hit what he thought was the second ball, finished the hole — then spotted a scuff mark on the ball and became unsure that he had chosen the right ball.

A short while later, Crane and the Tour’s rules committee ruled that Crane had finished the 8th hole with his original ball and didn’t correct the error. As a result, he disqualified himself for a breach of Rule 6.3c (1), which reads in part this way:

“A player must not make a stroke at a wrong ball.

“In stroke play, the player gets the general penalty (two penalty strokes) and must correct the mistake by continuing play with the original ball by playing it as it lies or taking relief under the Rules. The stroke made with the wrong ball and any more strokes before the mistake is corrected (including strokes made and any additional penalty strokes solely from playing that ball) do not count.

“If the player does not correct the mistake before making a stroke to begin another hole or, for the final hole of the round, before returning their scorecard, the player is disqualified.”

Rule 6.3c (1) is rarely seen, and a DQ because of it is more rare. There is also no forgiveness for finding the first ball after playing the second, as Rule 17.3c reads in part this way: “If a player’s ball has not been found and it is known or virtually certain that the ball came to rest in a penalty area, the player may take penalty relief under Rule 17.1d or 17.2. Once the player puts another ball in play to take relief in this way, the original ball is no longer in play and must not be played. This is true even if it is then found on the course before the end of the three-minute search time.”

Afterward, Crane shared his side on his video.

“Corales Open, Puntacana today, on the eighth hole, Saturday,” he started. “And I hit my tee shot into the hazard. After I hit into the hazard, I went forward and took a drop and played another ball into the fairway. I hit into the fairway. There’s two balls in the fairway, and they’re both mine. And [playing partner] David Lipsky and I are like, wait a minute. what’s going on?

“Well, we realized that my ball has hit off the rocks and gone out into the fairway. Now I have two balls in the fairway. I assume that my ball on the right was the second ball I put in play. And I play that golf ball and putt out and realized there’s a big rock scuff on that ball. And I did not do a good job of identifying when I took my drop of what number I was playing. And I realized I had played the wrong golf ball through the hole and realized I have to disqualify myself because I’m pretty sure that’s the ball that I had abandoned and I had played it.”