Hey – that guy knocked his ball into the hole – he shouldn’t be able to take a hole in one!

These words were spoken to me by a gentlemen who called my office the day after Andrew Magee, a PGA Tour player, had his ball accidentally knocked into the hole by a fellow competitor in the group in front of him at a PGA Tour event in January. Even after explaining the ruling to this gentleman, he was still having a problem justifying the "fairness" of the ruling since another player and not Magee had actually knocked the ball into the hole.

To recount the incident, Magee, driving from the tee of a short par four, hit a drive which he later said went much farther than he could ever have imagined, bounded onto the putting green, accidentally struck the putter of one of his fellow competitors on the green, and rolled into the hole. The end result was a hole in one on a par four, believed to be the first time that had occurred in a PGA Tour event.

One’s first reaction to this may be that it doesn’t seem "fair," similar to the reaction of the gentleman who called me. This particular situation is addressed in Rule 19-4 in the Rules of Golf. To paraphrase that Rule, if a player’s ball in motion is accidentally deflected or stopped by a fellow competitor or that competitor’s equipment, it shall be treated as if the ball were moved by an outside agency and the ball shall be played as it lies. The key word here is accidentally. The case involving Magee resulted from the accidental deflection of his ball by his fellow competitor’s equipment (the player on the green did not see the ball and the resulting deflection with his putter was purely accidental).

One may feel that this still doesn’t seem quite "fair" that the ball was considered holed as Magee was the beneficiary of this deflection. However, consider this. What if the ball, after striking the other player’s putter, had deflected into a nearby water hazard, into a greenside bunker, or into a bad lie in the rough near the green ? Magee would still be required to accept the result and play the ball as it lies (or possibly even take a penalty stroke in the case of a ball that is deflected into a water hazard). As all of us that play this great game know, it is a game of bounces (both good and bad) and some luck (both good and bad). In this case, Magee was the beneficiary of a good bounce and some good luck regarding the direction the ball took after it was deflected from the fellow competitor’s putter. The end result was a 1 on a par four hole (double eagle) and a very happy Andrew Magee.

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About the Author  The United States Golf Association decides on the Rules and Decisions changes for the United States and Mexico. Book Description  The biannual publication of the Rules of Golf Decisions book incorporating the every four year Rules change effective January 1, 2004. This publication makes any publication published before this obsolete. Customer Review:  Definitive -- and entertaining, at least for a rule book! Decisions on the Rules of Golf contains actual questions from actual players, and actual answers from the USGA -- over 600 pages of questions and answers! All of which are divided according to various rules and their subparts. A very helpful index makes it easy to find quickly any answer to any question you might have.