It Appears John Rahm Illegally Marked His Ball On Way To Irish Open Win, But Wasn’t Penalized
You be the judge of this one.
John Rahm dominated this week at the Irish Open ultimately winning by six shots, but during his final-round on Sunday it appeared that he illegally marked his ball on the green.
As you will see below, Rahm marked his ball on the side instead of the traditional mark just behind the ball (which is totally legal) then moved his mark the length of his putter head (which again is totally legal). When doing this you pick a spot in the distance for reference to move the ball back exactly where it was originally and while Rahm clearly did that before moving his mark back and placing his ball back on the putting surface, he didn’t place the ball to the side of the mark as he originally did.
So, ultimately, to the logic of placing the ball in front of the mark instead of to the side he not only didn’t place it in its original spot but closer to the hole as well.
Rahm, his playing partner and a rules official determined he used “reasonable judgement” to return the ball to its original spot. It’s a grey area to say the least and it’s not as if he moved the ball more than say one-quarter of an inch from its original spot, but nevertheless it did appear he moved it ever so slightly closer to the hole.
This incident comes just a few months after Lexi Thompson was given a four-stroke penalty at the ANA Inspiration — a major championship — ultimately costing her the win.
The young Spaniard lapped the field so to speak so the win shouldn’t be looked at as stained, but this is just one of example of a rising issue and controversy in the game of golf.
