At the 2009 Masters, Padraig Harrington officially blew his shot at a third consecutive Major title with a quadruple-bogey nine on the second hole Saturday. But some say his real chance was blown for him the day before on the 15th green.
During the blustery second round of the Masters, Harrington was on green at 15 when his ball at rest was moved by a gust of wind. Padraig had addressed his ball and then stepped away to get a better look at his line when the gust pushed his ball a little further from the hole. After a lengthy discussion with the rules official, he incurred a one-stroke penalty and was required to replace his golf ball on the spot at which it was moved.
The key to ruling is that he had addressed his ball, meaning he had taken his stance and grounded his club. The fact he had stepped away from the ball does not un-address it in this situation. The only way that Padraig could have un-addressed the golf ball would have been to mark its position and lift it and when he replaced it, it would not deem to be addressed. Padraig could have also avoided a penalty if he had not grounded his club on the green after taking his stance. Even after taking a stance, the ball is not considered addressed until the club is grounded, or “soled” as CBS annalist Nick Faldo put it. Jack Nicklaus was famous for not grounding his putter on the green. He would actually putt the ball with the putter head hovering just off the ground so he would never address the ball and incur the penalty that Padraig did.
Let’s pretend Padraig had taken a page from Nicklaus’ book and not grounded his club when he took his stance. When the gust of wind moved his ball, he would then play it from its new location with no penalty. This is because when a ball is at rest, it is in play.
As you know, when a ball in play is moved by an outside agency, such as a tree, animal or another person (other than your partner or either of your caddies) you would replace the ball on the location at which it was moved. However, wind is NOT an outside agency, and wherever the wind moves your ball to is where you play it from. As you can imagine, this can be both good and bad. If your ball at rest is moved by wind into a water hazard, you have to play the ball from the hazard or take a penalty stroke and drop it out of the hazard. On the other hand, if wind on the green blows your ball 10 feet closer to the hole, then your birdie putt just got easier. The wind could even blow your ball into the hole, meaning you have now holed out with your previous stroke!
The wind was certainly not kind to Padraig, and because he had addressed his ball it was also costly. Perhaps his chances of winning were not completely blown on 15, but the wind was taken out of his sails!
