Rules

Ball Moved By Outside Influence

Daniel Sommerville, R&A Rules manager, discusses an incident that occurred in the second round of the US Open at Pebble Beach in June after Phil Mickelson had ripped his drive down the 10th fairway…

It wasn’t only spectators who were interested in watching the ball as it also caught the eye of a seagull, which decided to try and pick it up several times, moving the ball away from its original position.

Mickelson called for the assistance of a Rules official. A seagull is an outside influence, as is any other animal, another ball in motion or any person (including another player), except the player or his or her caddie or the player’s partner or opponent or any of their caddies. When a ball is moved by an outside influence, Rule 9.6 covers what to do next. First, it needs to be known or virtually certain that an outside influence has moved the ball, and that was definitely the case for Mickelson. Known or virtually