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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 12, 2004

Slugger White

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Tournament director, Slugger White, thanks for joining us. Real quickly, I know you want to get this second round finished, so we'll go right to the details of the disqualification of Greg Norman.

SLUGGER WHITE: All right. Do you know what happened? Do you know what he did?

The 13th hole, he hit his tee shot into what looked like was the hazard. It's a little dogleg right. It's almost like playing over the hazard; whatever.

So after the other two players played, he said he was going to play a provisional ball for a ball in the water hazard, lateral water hazard, which you cannot do. You can only play a provisional ball for a ball lost or a ball out of bounds. He hit this provisional ball, which becomes the ball in play.

But he goes down there and finds his original ball outside the hazard in the waist area. Plays the original ball to the green, and then I think that that's where the question arose.

So, I guess one of his fellow competitors picked his ball up. What he needed to do that, in fact, the second ball put into play on the tee becomes the ball in play. There's a decision that covers this. I'll make a copy if you guys would like to see it.

He needed to rectify what he had done. So he would have been one in the hazard, two back, hitting three, playing four, but he played a wrong ball so he has two more; so he's playing six from the fairway to rectify, okay. Are you staying with me?

And chose not to do that and just took he just, "I'm disqualified." He chose not to do.

Q. You went too fast for me.

SLUGGER WHITE: That doesn't surprise me. (Laughter.)

Q. When he's hit the provisional and found his ball

SLUGGER WHITE: He cannot play a provisional ball for a ball

Q. I understand that.

SLUGGER WHITE: So now he's put a ball under stroke and distance in play under the water hazard rule. So he needs to play that ball. That becomes the ball in play.

Q. He has to play the ball that he couldn't hit?

SLUGGER WHITE: No. He needs to go play the ball in the fairway, what he called his provisional ball. It is not a provisional ball. It becomes the ball in play.

Q. Once he hit it?

SLUGGER WHITE: No. Once he hit it off the tee, that becomes the ball in play.

Q. There was a two stroke penalty in there for doing that?

SLUGGER WHITE: No. What he did, when he played the original ball. The original ball is a wrong ball and it's a two spoke penalty. That becomes a wrong ball there.

Q. That's where he's hitting

SLUGGER WHITE: So actually it's one, two, three, four, five; he's hitting six from the fairway.

Q. Now, he is disqualified or he just WD'd?

SLUGGER WHITE: He said, "I'm disqualified" and was gone. And that's the way we left it.

Q. I know you weren't out there.

SLUGGER WHITE: I was not, no.

Q. Was he hot, was he upset? What was his mood?

SLUGGER WHITE: Well, I don't think he was real happy. Greg, I talked to him on the phone, he was okay. He just said he messed up and that was kind of where we went with that.

Q. So he withdrew then; he wasn't disqualified?

SLUGGER WHITE: He was disqualified. He said "I'm disqualified" and then left.

Q. But technically he would not have been disqualified?

SLUGGER WHITE: He could have rectified. He could have gone back before he teed off on the next hole. It's a little gray area, to be quite honest. But that's what he took and that's the way we took it.

Q. The weird part of the rule you is can't play a provisional with the ball in the hazard, but turns out his ball wasn't in the hazard and he didn't know that?

SLUGGER WHITE: He went on reasonable evidence; right.

Q. If he had known the ball was in the hazard, he could have hit the original provisional and then been all right. If it was a lateral hazard, wouldn't have mattered anyway, right? After it went in the lateral hazard, can you hit a provisional when it's in a lateral hazard?

SLUGGER WHITE: No. He's put a ball in play. The only way and you have to declare a provisional ball for a ball that's lost outside the water hazard or out of bounds.

Q. How did this evolve? Did it happen when it was time for him to post his score?

SLUGGER WHITE: He evidently was called on the 13th green. I don't know if it was someone from that TV had done that. I didn't know all the details.

Q. He was called?

SLUGGER WHITE: Or it was called to us that there was a ruling on 13 green. So Steve went there and he went through that, and then called me. And then, like I say, there's a decision on that.

Q. Did he finish putting out on 13?

SLUGGER WHITE: I don't know.

Q. You don't know who raised the issue? Was I going too fast for you?

SLUGGER WHITE: Maltbie is the one that raised the issue.

Q. If he had hit the ball off the tee and didn't know it was in the hazard and presumed that maybe he wouldn't be able to find it for whatever reason, and he hit a second ball without a declaration because you can do that under the new rules and he would have gone

SLUGGER WHITE: No. Without a declaration?

Q. You don't have to make a declaration under the new rules, I thought.

SLUGGER WHITE: Yeah, you do. If you're playing a provisional ball, you have to say: "I'm playing a provisional ball." You can't just if you don't say "I'm playing" "provisional" has to be in the statement. It can't be like, "I'd better hit another one"; "that's out of here." There's nothing like that. It has to be a provisional ball.

Q. He said, "it's provisional," goes up there, doesn't say I think it's in the hazard, I'm just hitting provisional because I might not be able to find it, and goes up there and finds that ball, then everything is fine.

SLUGGER WHITE: Then he has to abandon the provisional then in that situation.

Q. And goes and hits that one. So everything would have been fine?

SLUGGER WHITE: (Nodding in agreement).

Q. So if he makes a reference to water hazard

SLUGGER WHITE: Well, that's what I say. And I'll make you a copy of this decision.

Q. What rule is it?

SLUGGER WHITE: The decision is 27 2A/2.

Q. That's not a rule; that's a decision?

SLUGGER WHITE: A decision.

Q. He said: "I'm hitting a provisional because I think my ball is in the hazard"?

SLUGGER WHITE: Right.

Q. What's wrong with that sentence? If he would not have said "hazard"? He'd have been okay if the original ball would have been on the hazard?

SLUGGER WHITE: No. Because he went on reasonable evidence. He knew his ball was in the hazard. That was reasonable evidence to feel like this ball it's hazard all down the right side. So the reasonable evidence was right there.

Q. You cannot hit a provisional unless it's out of bounds or lost?

SLUGGER WHITE: Correct.

Q. Being in the hazard is not considered lost?

SLUGGER WHITE: No.

Q. But had he hit provisional, not said I'm hitting it because I think I'm in the hazard, he'd have been okay?

SLUGGER WHITE: If he'd have said "I'm hitting a ball, I'm hitting a provisional ball because I think that ball might be lost or out of bounds," it would have been no problem, exactly.

The reasonable evidence kicks in because he put this ball into play because the reasonable evidence, he thought the ball was in the water hazard.

Q. Do you have any idea how many guys have hit ball in the water hazard there?

SLUGGER WHITE: I have no idea.

Q. The question I have is more in places usually out here where there's a place where things like that can happen, I understand that bunker, you can't see off the tee. You don't know what happens when somebody makes that turn; there's usually a volunteer out there let you know if the ball is in the hazard or not. You don't have any control over that; correct?

SLUGGER WHITE: No. Maybe I'm not understanding you. Are you talking about

Q. Usually there would be in places where

SLUGGER WHITE: As a rule, there is.

Q. In this particular case, there's just not?

SLUGGER WHITE: It's over there. It's like it's around the corner. It would be very difficult to marshal I think. I think it would be very difficult to marshal.

Q. In this particular case, he should not have hit the second ball?

SLUGGER WHITE: Correct.

Q. Then when he got down there, that's the ball he should have played?

SLUGGER WHITE: He would have been free and clear then. Is that what you're asking?

Q. He shouldn't have hit the second ball, but then once he did hit it, he should have played that?

SLUGGER WHITE: Well, the reason he hit it is because he thought the ball was in the hazard. He operated under reasonable evidence. The whole thing is that. That's the whole bottom line to it; that that was what he operated under, under the water hazard.

Q. How did Roger how did he relay that?

SLUGGER WHITE: I don't know. That, I don't know. I don't know.

Q. If it had been in the hazard, was there a place that he could have dropped?

SLUGGER WHITE: I don't think so. He probably would have had to have gone back to the tee. I'm not positive about that.

Q. Is this a great example of why the rules are extremely complicated?

SLUGGER WHITE: They have me scratching my head, I tell you what. I don't mind telling you that. There's 1,200 decisions here. I said I'm smart enough to know that I'm smart enough not to know 1,200 decisions. That's the reason it's there.

Q. If he had not hit the provisional, and followed, thinking that he was in the hazard and would have followed the Rules of Golf, that one's pretty simple if you're in the hazard; you don't hit a provisional; he could have been fine because would he have found his ball?

SLUGGER WHITE: But the reason he hit it is because he thought it was in the hazard.

Q. So what he said was he thought

SLUGGER WHITE: That's the only reason he put the ball in play. He put that ball in play.

I think the decision may explain it better than I'm trying to.

Q. Is that the USGA decisions?

SLUGGER WHITE: Yes.

Q. Did he not know that you can't take a provisional?

SLUGGER WHITE: I don't think so. I'm guessing.

End of FastScripts.

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