{"id":912,"date":"2012-05-16T15:42:54","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T15:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teemoore.com\/?p=912"},"modified":"2012-05-16T15:42:54","modified_gmt":"2012-05-16T15:42:54","slug":"knowing-the-rules-saved-kevin-na-a-bundle-at-the-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/personalities\/912\/knowing-the-rules-saved-kevin-na-a-bundle-at-the-players","title":{"rendered":"Knowing the rules saved Kevin Na a bundle at the Players"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the cusp on Matt Kuchar\u2019s triumphant stroll up the 18th fairway on Sunday at the Players Championship, one of the most intriguing rules situation went virtually unnoticed that resulted in saving the player at least $50,000. Here\u2019s what happened: Kuchar\u2019s playing partner Kevin Na teed off 18 and his drive was pushed right into the rough and near a cart path. Watching it on television, the next scene we see is Na dropping his ball on<\/em> the cart path. A few moments later, we then see Na addressing the ball on the cart path with a fairway metal. From there, Na knocks it onto the green where he ends up making an amazing par.<\/p>\n

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Knowing the rules paved the way for Kevin Na<\/p><\/div>\n

OK, so what transpired here? I figured Na would get relief from where his ball originally rested since his stance would have been on the cart path. But the rules also say the player needs to take complete<\/em> relief from the cart path which meant his ball wouldn\u2019t have ended up on it. So how did Na end up making a shot off of the path? Perplexed, I called Roger Ostrander of Grand Rapids, Mich., a 20-year rules official who has worked six U.S. Opens, nine Senior Opens, and 14 Mid-Amateurs. Luckily, Ostrander had also observed the sequence of events on Sunday. Better yet, he had already reviewed the situation by phone with the PGA Tour rules staff at Ponte Vedra.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat wasn\u2019t made clear on Sunday,\u201d said Ostrander, \u201cwas the fact that Na\u2019s tee shot rested in an area deemed ground under repair\u2014an area of wear and damage due to gallery traffic. As such, he was entitled to relief and after determining the nearest point of relief, the ball may be dropped on the cart path, strange as that may appear.\u201d Ostrander said that Na dropped his ball twice and each time it rolled into an area that didn\u2019t provide relief and so Na was able to place his ball on the surface of the cart path\u2014the flattest, cleanest lie\u2014 at the spot of the second drop. \u201cThe television commentators were too busy sizing up Kuchar\u2019s second shot to fully explain the situation,\u201d said Ostrander who last year was the recipient of the GAM\u2019s Distinguished Service award. \u201cTo me, it also showed how talented these players are and how they always strike the ball first even off a cart path.\u201d<\/p>\n

By making par, Na finished T-7 and earned $296,083. If he had made bogey, he would have earned $247,000 and if he made a double, he would have earned $199,500. So you gotta hand it to Na, especially considering all of the angst he endured the last two rounds, to keep a clear head and have the rules work in his favor. As Roger Maltbie used to say on the old NBC Golf segment, \u201cIf you play this game, you gotta know the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if you don\u2019t, be sure to consult a rules official.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Image courtesy of the PGA Tour<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the cusp on Matt Kuchar\u2019s triumphant stroll up the 18th fairway on Sunday at the Players Championship, one of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5048,5975,6569,6731,27552,251739,9,277563,4907,7],"tags":[4018,475914,4797,476280,476504,8376,476773,1036836,1036820,6068,2832,4080],"class_list":["post-912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative-golf-assoc","category-long-island-golf-assoc","category-azga","category-indiana-golf-assoc","category-wvga","category-pga-tour","category-golf","category-wisconsin-golfer","category-oregon-golf-assoc","category-personalities","tag-rules","tag-relief-from-ground-under-repair","tag-matt-kuchar","tag-nbc-golf","tag-roger-ostrander","tag-gam","tag-cart-path","tag-pga-tour","tag-golf","tag-the-players-championship","tag-terry-moore","tag-kevin-na"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2012\/05\/Na-Badz.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}