Perceptive rules question by caddie unlocks Tour pro’s ‘dead zone’ relief

Austin Kaiser was pricked by a tree.

He was stung by a rock.

He then requested a question that helped go away his man with out a scratch. 

“Is this not in our way?”

The PGA Tour ShotLink tower and its cables had been, a Tour rules official deemed Thursday. And what adopted was near-miraculous relief for Xander Schauffele at Quail Hollow Club, which he rode to the lead after the Wells Fargo Championship’s first spherical.  

“Maybe that’s the break that makes the difference this week,” analyst Frank Nobilo mentioned on Golf Channel’s broadcast. 

The sequence began after Schauffele went proper along with his tee shot on the 356-yard par-4 eighth gap, and after a search, the ball was discovered a couple of toes to the left of a chain-link fence, near a few bigger rocks and underneath dense tree protection, all of which had been in a red-marked penalty space. Questions ensued.    

Could Schauffele take penalty-stroke relief from there? He could, although it could be a good distance backward. But couldn’t he additionally try a swing? He might strive. Some work was wanted. In the best way had been the rocks, and Schauffele referred to as over Kaiser, his caddie, who labored his method into the tree space and moved them under the rules, although not earlier than being damage by the bushes (“Ow, ow,” he shouted) and the rock (“That one sure f***ing hurts,” he mentioned.). 

The participant and caddie got here out of the bushes. They puzzled in regards to the shot, which might require a low punch-out. But Kaiser noticed the ShotLink tower, which underneath the rules is deemed a short lived immovable obstruction (TIO), and he requested his question to rules official Dave Donnelly, although that triggered one other question.  

Can you get TIO relief from the penalty space?

You can, according to this USGA online explainer of TIOs, although solely so long as the TIO was within the mild of sight between the ball and the opening, and an inexpensive play on the ball may very well be made. Were the tower or the tower’s cables in the best way? Could Schauffele hit a shot towards the opening? Schauffele, Kaiser and Donnelly went again into the bushes. They talked.    

The relief was given. 

Said rules official Mark Dusbabek on the Golf Channel broadcast: “You can see the camera tower right there. It’s one of our ShotLink camera towers, and there’s a wire that comes down off of that. So the determination that Dave just made is that Xander — can Xander make it to that camera tower through the trees there? And Dave has made the decision that he can. So he’s going to get relief out of that. It’ll be free relief, even though he’s in the penalty area. He has to stay in that penalty area to take his full relief.”

Notably, the relief took Schauffele from the spot near the fence and underneath the bushes, to yards away from the fence and free from tree cowl. From there, he pitched on, two-putted for a 4, and he signed for a seven-under 64, good for a three-stroke benefit heading into Friday.

“It’s a great break for him right here,” Dusbabek mentioned Golf Channel. “It’s all within the rules. And that’s why our officials on site there can help him with that so he doesn’t make a mistake. He knows that he can ask those questions and can you help him out and gave him the best answer that he could.”

How did Schauffele see it?

He mentioned he knew he was fortunate. 

“When we got there,” he mentioned on Golf Channel, “it was just about useless, and I began touching the 2 rocks subsequent to me, and I used to be like, OK, Austin, it’s advantageous, I can transfer them; they’re not embedded. I imply, they had been large rocks. I don’t know if the digital camera caught Austin attempting to maneuver considered one of them, however there have been worms and all types of nasty stuff on it. So we moved two rocks, after which, just about punching out backwards was not possible as a result of the fence was like [gestured] this removed from my ball so the one development, for the reason that two rocks had been moved, was really punching it towards the inexperienced. 

“And so I brought the rules official in, and I was like, this is literally, either I go back to the tee or I try and force it forward, and if I force it forward, worst case is it gets stuck in there and then I can just punch it back it out and then I’d be grinding for a five. But he was like — I mean, the wire was perfectly in the way, the tower was in the luckiest spot possible, so then I can take equidistant either side of the tower, went left, the club length got me on the very edge of the pine straw, hit what I thought was an unbelievable pitch to bounce it up on the green and then it was a no-sweat two-putt. … It was super lucky, one, that they found it, and, two, to get that kind of relief out of the absolute dead zone.”

How did the on-site Golf Channel crew see it?

They additionally famous Kaiser’s question. 

Said announcer Terry Gannon: “He’s got a good caddie, too. I think it was Austin who first picked up on that tower being in the way.” 

Said analyst Curt Byrum: “I think you’re right.” 

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his function, he’s answerable for enhancing, writing and creating tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be enjoying the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and brief, and consuming a chilly beer to clean away his rating. You can attain out to him about any of those subjects — his tales, his recreation or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.