Changing The Game

A curious ruling that allowed Ivan Cantero to change his score on a hole led to him making the cut on the number at the Volvo China Open at Hidden Grace GC in Shenzhen, China. It was a ruling that multiple players and rules officials had never heard before. 

The incident took place on Thursday on the DP World Tour (European). On the 13th hole, Ivan Cantero hit his first ball on the 543-yard par 5 into a jungle area on the right. Unsure if where he hit his ball was a penalty area or not, Cantero played a provisional ball. A PGA rules official I spoke with confirmed that a provisional is allowed in this situation. A provisional is not permitted when the player knows the area they have hit their ball is a penalty area. 

Cantero then hit his provisional into the fairway and the group headed down the hole. When the group arrived at the area Cantero had hit his ball, they realized it was a penalty area. This should have made Cantero’s provisional ball irrelevant regardless of whether they could find his drive or not. The group then found Cantero’s original (first) ball in the penalty area. 

According to multiple sources, Cantero asked for a rules official, who said that because Cantero had hit a provisional, his first ball could not be played. Cantero pleaded his case knowing that if he was unsure his ball flew into a penalty area, he was allowed to play a provisional. He then asked for a second opinion. The second official also incorrectly ruled that he could not play his original ball. 

Understandably frustrated, Cantero stormed to his provisional and played his fourth shot. Cantero hit that shot onto the green and made the putt for a (remarkable) par. 

According to multiple people I spoke with after the round, the rules officials met with Cantero and admitted they had given him an incorrect ruling. They took one stroke off his score on that hole to correct the mistake, giving him a birdie instead of a par. The players and rules officials I spoke with had never heard of a score being lowered because of a mistake.

Rule 20.2 states, “If a ruling by a referee or the Committee is later found wrong, the ruling can be corrected if possible under the Rules. If it is too late to do so, the ruling stands.” 

The PGA rules officials I spoke with both stated that they had never seen that rule used to lower a score on a hole. One official added, “I’ve never heard of this in junior golf, let alone a top tour.” 

The now birdie gave Cantero a first-round 70. He followed that up with a 71 (making a triple-bogey on the 13th), leaving him at 3-under through two rounds and making the cut on the number. Had his score not been changed, he would have missed the cut. 

It’s impossible to know what score Cantero would have made if he had been (correctly) allowed to play his original ball. Multiple players I spoke with were frustrated that the officials got it wrong and with the subsequent ruling, which allowed Cantero to take a stroke off of his score. 

The event's third round was rained out and Cantero will tee off Sunday with Callum Hill and Matthew Baldwin.