Zach Johnson got a chuckle and a few gasps Friday at the Masters when his practice swing on No. 13 accidentally clipped his ball off his tee and sent it bouncing off the tee marker.
The ball came to rest just a few feet in front of Johnson.
Johnson uttered an expletive, and his playing partners Matt Kuchar and Ian Poulter were equally shocked at what they had just witnessed.
They were all heard saying none had seen anything like it during a tournament.
Most fans reacted likewise, which raised the question: How is that not a penalty?
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Thanks to the Rules of Golf, it’s not.
A tee ball is only considered in play when a player intends to hit it. Because Johnson’s contact with the ball was obviously accidental during a practice swing, there was no penalty.
The USGA chimed in on Twitter to clarify:
Regarding Zach Johnson hitting the ball on a practice swing at #themasters, since he had no intention of striking the ball, he has not made a stroke. On the teeing area, there is no penalty and the player simply re-tees because the ball is not yet in play.
It’s no different than a player accidentally knocking the ball off the tee with the club head before starting the hole.
The rules address this directly, saying a player has not made a stroke if he “accidentally strikes the ball when making a practice swing or while preparing to make a stroke.”
So Johnson then picked up his ball, re-teed it and drilled it down the fairway. He ended up with a birdie on the hole to get to 1-under for the tournament.
After his round, Johnson took to twitter to say “Now I’ve done it all!”
