Rules

Embedded Ball

Daniel Sommerville, R&A Rules manager, looks back on an incident from the opening round of this year’s Memorial Tournament, in which Matt Kuchar had a lengthy discussion with PGA Tour officials as to whether or not his ball was embedded in the 17th fairway…

For a ball to be considered embedded, it must be below the level of the ground and embedded in its own pitch mark as a result of the previous stroke. Kuchar claimed that the mark made in the ground where his ball was lying was an indent created by one of the bounces after his drive had landed on the fairway. The PGA Tour official denied Kuchar relief on the basis that the indentation his ball was lying in was not created as a result of his previous stroke – it was an old pitch mark from someone else’s ball, so he was not entitled to free relief.

Under the embedded ball Rule (Rule 16.3), there is no free relief if