Last week’s WGC Accenture Match Play Championship certainly had its exciting moments, including the miraculous back-to-back up and downs from Victor Dubuisson, who gave champion Jason Day everything he wanted for 23 holes on Sunday. The most talked about story from the week however, came from Sergio Garcia, who offered to halve a hole with Rickie Fowler when Fowler was facing an 18-foot par putt. Why would he do that? Was it even permissible under the Rules? Let’s take a look at the events that led up to the surprising concession and some of the Rules involved.
During their third round match, on the par-3 sixth hole, Sergio hit his tee shot right of the green near a sprinkler head. He didn’t have interference from the sprinkler head itself, but in the same area as his ball was a swarm of bees! Sergio called over the referee for the match and discussed his potential relief options.
Decision 1-4/10 in the Decisions on the Rules of Golf covers a situation in which a player’s ball comes to rest in a dangerous situation, e.g., near a live rattlesnake or a bee’s nest. The decision reads in part, “…It is unreasonable to expect the player to play from such a dangerous situation and unfair to require the player to incur a penalty under Rule 26 (Water Hazards) or Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable). If the ball lay through the green, the player may, without penalty, drop a ball within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest spot not nearer the hole that is not dangerous and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green…”
Although it is unclear if there was an actual bee’s nest near Sergio’s ball, the referee considered all of the relevant facts, including the number of surrounding bees and ultimately authorized Sergio to drop his ball away from the dangerous situation. This process took close to five minutes to be resolved and all the while Rickie Fowler was waiting to putt an 8-footer for birdie to win the hole. When it was finally Fowler’s turn, he missed his birdie putt. Garcia got up and down for par and the hole was halved.
The two of them moved on to the par-4 seventh hole, where each found themselves on the green with par putts. Rickie’s putt was approximately 18 feet and Sergio’s was only 5 feet. Sergio asked Rickie, “Do you wanna half?” Fowler was as shocked as the TV broadcasters and took a minute before realizing that Sergio was agreeing to consider the hole halved. But was this permitted?
The answer is found, once again, in the Decisions book. Decision 2-1/1.5 states, “An agreement to halve a hole being played is permissible…”
However, if players agree to halve a hole before either has made a stroke during that hole, they would be disqualified for failing to play the stipulated round, provided they knew this was not allowed. So Sergio and Rickie were within their rights to call it ‘good-good’ on the seventh green and proceed to the eighth tee without putting out.
Why did Sergio agree to halve the hole, rather than make Rickie attempt his 18-foot par putt? According to on-course reports, Sergio said he, “felt bad” about taking so long with his ruling on number six and felt like he put Rickie at a disadvantage. Although Sergio went on to lose the match on the last hole, he reiterated the following week that he had no regrets, saying, “I don’t care if some people think it was wrong, or right. For me, it was the right thing to do.”
This small act by Sergio is a big reminder that golf is not only to be played by a set of Rules, but in accordance with a set of values and honor as well.
