YELLOW LINES: At Augusta National, we don’t see any stakes, but the penalty areas are identified by yellow or red lines on the ground. We saw many balls go in those penalty areas.
At hole # 12, 13 and 15, the water in front of the green is marked Yellow. When a ball goes into the water, the player has the following options besides trying to play the ball where it lies.
– Go back to the previous position
– Back on the line relief keeping a line from the flagstick and the point of entry and dropping a ball as far as we want.
– As an additional option, a player may use the drop zone.
Even if the ball hits the fringe and rolls back in the water, the player may not drop a ball on the green side. That would be possible only with a Red line.
FLOWER BEDS
The players don’t have a free relief if the ball lies in or near the flowers beds
UNPLAYABLE BALL
On Saturday, Scottie Scheffler found his ball in a bush on hole # 18. He decided to use the Unplayable rule options. He could have gone back to the tee. We could also use the back on the Line option but that would have put him in more trouble. He finally decided to use the lateral relief at not more than 2 club-length from the position of the unplayable ball.
Before dropping the ball, the player is allowed to take out any loose impediments that is not attached. He is not allowed to remove earth or sand.
Scheffler dropped his ball very close to the edge of the 2 club-length and the ball went further. After another drop, the ball still came to rest outside the relief area (2 club-length). Then he placed the ball at the spot where the ball touched the ground inside the relief area. When the ball does not stay in place, the player can move the ball as close as possible at an area where the ball will stay at rest. It gave him the possibility to have a better angle to the green.
NOTE: If a player decides to play a Provisional ball before going to search for his ball, and he would find the original ball he must not use the provisional ball. He would still be allowed to go back to the tee and play his 3rd shot. A provisional is good only for a lots ball or a ball Out of Bounds.