Sung Kang was accused of cheating this weekend when his second shot on the par 5 10th went left of the hazard. He claimed it had recrossed the hazard pin high and stayed in the hazard and was entitled to a drop by the green. His playing partner didn’t agree and for 25 minutes they debated with a rules official. Kang told the official he was 95% sure it crossed where he said and the official reminded him that, that wasn’t 100%. In the end the rules official and his playing partner left it up to Kang to make the call which he chose to drop not pin high but some 30 some feet back but nearer the pin than his second shot.
Now playing in our local leagues rules can be changed to a local rule as long as the group agrees and everyone is aware of the rules. I know we used to have a rule in our league at the old Knollbrook golf course in Lodi that if you hit your ball o.b. on one you took your drop where it went out. The official rule is to go back to the tee and hit 3 from the tee. In Florida I played in a league that we went strictly by USGA rules and you played where it lies or you take your penalty. Now we would hit a provisional ball on close calls and if out we would already be lying the penalized number.
If you are playing in a league or tournament make sure you know the rules they are using. Hopefully Mr. Kang was and is able to sleep with his decision but if he cheated it is on his conscience.
Steve Combs