4 rules incidents unlocked after pro’s tee shot: ‘I had a funny situation’

What happened on 9, the reporter asked Corey Conners. A good question, though if you happen to be in a hurry here, perhaps you would’ve wanted the scribe to ask this instead:

What didn’t happen?

Friday, after his second round at the Sentry, the PGA Tour’s season-opener, Conners offered some intel. Notably, he bogeyed the 545-yard par-5 on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, which stood out in and of itself in his seven-under-66 round — but how he bogeyed may also be of interest, especially the sequence that unlocked four rules incidents. 

Said Conners of it all: “I had a funny situation.”

Here’s how things played out:

— His tee shot strayed right. “I just made an uncommitted swing on the tee,” Conners said. 

— His ball wound up in “long grass,” where Conners said it was embedded. He called over an official. 

“So I had the official there,” Conners said, “and was trying to get relief from the embedded ball, and wasn’t entitled to that because I didn’t really have a shot. Which, I didn’t really have a shot. If my ball wasn’t plugged, I would have been taking an unplayable. Could have argued maybe that I could have swung.”

Wait. Why didn’t Conners get relief here? That’s spelled out in Rule 16.3a (1), where it says: “There is no relief under Rule 16.3b: When playing the ball as it lies is clearly unreasonable because of something from which the player is not allowed to take free relief (such as when a player is unable to make a stroke because of where the ball lies in a bush).”

(Notably, according to the rules, “a committee may adopt a local rule restricting relief to a ball embedded in those parts of the general area cut to fairway height or less.”)

— Conners took a one-stroke drop for an unplayable ball, allotted under Rule 19.2. 

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— But now?

“The Shot Link tower was in my way,” Conners said, “so I got a drop.”

That falls under relief from temporary immovable obstructions. (The USGA offers a wonderfully detailed description of TIOs in a pamphlet that can be found here.) 

— But now?

“Was on the cart path, took relief from that,” Conners said. 

That comes via Rule 16.1, which defines relief from abnormal course conditions. 

— Finally, Conners played shot three, and he advanced his ball to wedge distance. From there, he pitched to 14 feet, then missed the par putt and finished with a bogey.

“It was just set up by a poor drive,” Conners said. “Gave myself a par putt, but wasn’t able to convert it.”

With that, Conners’ post-round press conference was done, and he was seemingly off to unwind. 

A lot had happened, after all.