Neither of these instances are particularly relatable to the average golfer. Nonetheless they’re unusual ones and if you had money on these players.
Nick Piastowski documents the bizarre scene involving Harold Varner in the 2022 RBC Heritage Classic second round. Varner contends that his ball was moved by a resident who picked up his ball from the original position to identify it and placed it out of bounds. The person denied this and the official agreed with the off-course spectator, though announcers on PGA Tour Live thought the man’s movements were questionable at the time.
“Without a doubt,” Varner said. “The biggest thing for me that I could sleep on is that there was out of bounds right of the creek, and the TV said it’s in the creek. There’s a golf ball right there. I’m not going to be naive and be like my ball couldn’t go there. So I did the right thing, and I said, hey, can you see if that’s my ball? At the time, we couldn’t find a bridge to get across the creek.
“It’s great. I won’t stop talking about it until I talk to Coxy. At some point, the players should have — if I wouldn’t have been there and didn’t see the guy move the ball, I don’t — cool, I’ll go back to the tee. But I’m looking there, and I’m like that’s not right. The rules are there to protect the players, I thought.”
When reached for comment by GOLF.com, a PGA Tour spokesman said, “Stephen is not going to comment on it until he has a chance to talk to Harold about it.”
If the fan had moved the ball from its original position, Varner would have been allowed to move it back to its original location, under under Rule 9.6, which states: “If it is known or virtually certain that an outside influence (including another player in stroke play or another ball) lifted or moved a player’s ball: There is no penalty, and the ball must be replaced on its original spot (which if not known must be estimated) (see Rule 14.2).”
Instead, Varner was hit with a penalty, and he double-bogeyed the hole.
Varner went on to miss a sudden death playoff by a stroke.
Dylan Frittelli was able to find his ball in Spanish moss and play it, but stood astride of his ball as an official appeared to be watching.
The PGA Tour announced a penalty on Twitter.
Frittelli took to Twitter after his round to declare “the rules of golf remain undefeated.”