Tour Pros Receive Two-Stroke Penalties After Rare Rules Incident

The Rules of Golf often throw up some weird and wonderful scenarios, and that proved to be just the case on the HotelPlanner Tour.

Players were vying for points and prizes at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge, especially on Friday when the 36-hole cut was enforced.

Sam Jones and Matthis Besard were grinding to make the weekend, with their cases not helped when both men were penalized for a rather rare incident.

Playing the par 4 11th, their second of the day, Besard stuck his shot on to the green and just a few feet from the hole.

Walking up to his ball, the Belgian asked his playing partner, Jones, if he wanted it marked, but the New Zealander said to leave it where it was.

From there, Jones ended up striking his playing partner's golf ball with his chip, with a two shot penalty occurring shortly afterwards.

What was the reason for the penalty, you might ask? Well, it came down to the fact that the two players had discussed marking the ball, but then didn't.

Because of this, the pair had broken 'Rule 15.3a - Ball on Putting Green Helping Play' - which "applies only to a ball at rest on the putting green, not anywhere else on the course."

In an official statement to Golf Monthly, a spokesperson for the HotelPlanner Tour stated: “Sam Jones and Matthis Besard were each penalized two shots for breaching rule 15.3a/1 - Ball on Putting Green Helping Play - on hole 11 in the second round of Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.”

More commonly known as 'backstopping,' the rule reads: "If a player reasonably believes that a ball on the putting green might help anyone’s play (such as by serving as a possible backstop near the hole), the player may:

"Mark the spot of the ball and lift it under Rule 13.1b if it is their own ball, or if the ball belongs to another player, require the other player to mark the spot and lift the ball. The lifted ball must be replaced on its original spot.

"In stroke play only: 'A player who is required to lift a ball may play first instead, and if two or more players agree to leave a ball in place to help any player, and that player then makes a stroke with the helping ball left in place, each player who made the agreement gets the general penalty (two penalty strokes)."

Essentially, you can't make an agreement with a playing partner to leave a ball in place to act as a backstop.

If you do make a such an agreement and a stroke is played with the helping ball in place (whether there’s a collision or not) both players who made the agreement receive the general penalty of two shots.

Following the penalty, Besard would go on to shoot a 75 which, alongside his 78 on Thursday, meant he comfortably missed the cut at Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil.

Jones, meanwhile, managed to recover from the early setback, birdieing three of his last five holes to make the cut on the level-par number.

Shooting a three-over first round of 75, a three-under 69 meant a made weekend for the 30-year-old, who then carded rounds of 69 and 74 on Saturday and Sunday to finish in a share of 44th.