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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIPMay 4, 2012Mark RussellCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MARK RUSSELL: I never heard that one time. Q. So witnesses who saw the ball on the ground‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: They saw the ball bounce and go into that area there, and then they saw people go around the ball where the ball went. You know, just looking at that area, it's basically bare ground, trampled down pine needles. If it had been deep mulch or pine needles, it would have been a different situation. Based on the evidence there, it looked like to me somebody picked up the ball. Q. But nobody saw anyone pick up the ball? MARK RUSSELL: No, nobody saw. Q. But there were a lot of people around‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: But people saw‑‑ yeah, there was tons of people around, and people said they saw the ball bounce and go into that area, and then people got around and the ball was gone. But nobody had any evidence that they saw the ball picked up. But there was no other place the ball could be if it bounced and went in there. And they searched for it for quite a while before they called it. Q. Have you ever made this ruling before at any time in your career? MARK RUSSELL: Well, there are times when balls are picked up, and you might have a little more evidence than you would normally have. But in this case, if it would have been bushes and things like that over there or deep pine straw, it would have been a totally different situation. It was basically bare ground. Q. And a holly tree? MARK RUSSELL: Well, a holly tree, but they said they saw it hit behind the holly tree and go in there. Q. Several people said they saw it in or‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: One gentleman specifically, an older gentleman, told me, I saw the ball hit right here, I saw it bounce, it didn't look like it was going far, and then I saw several people come around and get around the ball where it was going, and the ball was vanished. If you go out there and take a look at it and see what I'm saying‑‑ listen, I'm thinking all the time, if you can't find the ball, the ball is lost. But based on the evidence we had, somebody must have picked the ball up the way I see it. Q. When there's this many people around the ball, how does somebody not see someone pick it up? MARK RUSSELL: You tell me. I asked the crowd several times, but I had one gentleman that was adamant in what he saw and a couple other people said, yes, I saw the ball bounce and go this way. Very unusual situation, but based on all the evidence and the situation it was, looked like to me somebody‑‑ where else could the ball have been? Q. The words in the rule book says you have to be certain? MARK RUSSELL: Yeah. Q. So you must have been certain. You default to the word of people who are following him as fans? MARK RUSSELL: I could not figure‑‑ I was just operating on the evidence that we had and the area that we were in. Like I said, if we were in a situation over there where there was a lot of bushes where the ball could easily be lost, it would be a totally different situation. But before you make any judgment, go out there and take a look at where that was. It's like it being lost on this floor right here. Q. After the ruling, I was late to the scene, but there was another guy out there who said he heard another fan tell you that the ball never came out of the trees. MARK RUSSELL: I never heard that. I never heard that. Q. Before or after the ruling? MARK RUSSELL: Somebody came up there later‑‑ Q. That's what I mean, after the ruling‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: After the ruling some guy says‑‑ you heard the conversation going on. Q. That's what I mean. MARK RUSSELL: Yeah. But the gentleman who was talking to me‑‑ I wasn't there. Based on the evidence I got, it never remotely entered my mind it was in the tree. The guy said he saw it bounce right here. Said it didn't look like it hit real hard, it was going that way, then I saw people go and get around where the ball was going. Q. In your career‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: Think about me telling him he's got to go back based on that evidence. Then I think it would be the other way around. You guys would be telling me, have you lost your mind? The ball couldn't have been lost over there. Q. But in your career you've never given a ruling before‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: It's a very strange situation. Q. Where a ball has never been found. MARK RUSSELL: Very strange situation. Q. But a free drop‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: Based on the evidence we had, I didn't see anything else we could do. I think I would have been more wrong telling him he had to go back. Once again, there's a lot of deep pine straw there, and I told Tiger that, and it was a situation where there was some bushes or someplace around there where the ball could be lost, it would have been a totally different thought process. Q. He dropped in roughly the place where they thought they had seen the ball? MARK RUSSELL: Yeah, I brought the guy there, he said I saw it hit right here, it was going this way. I said, Tiger, we're going to operate from right here. Q. Technically speaking, that's a lost ball. That is a lost ball, right? It's missing? MARK RUSSELL: Well, if nobody would have stepped up and said anything, it would have been a lost ball. But when people tell me they saw it bounce in here on this bare floor and you've got hundreds of people around, any one of them could have picked it up, that's the evidence we were operating on. Q. But the rules of golf don't really go there. The rules of golf‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: Well, the rules of golf, if a ball is picked up by an outside agency, you've got to kind of determine where it would be and a player can drop it there. It happens all the time out here. The ball might not be lost, though. Somebody might say, hey, I saw this guy pick the ball up or move the ball or do something. Q. Let's back up a step. Let's see this guy that jumps in five minutes late to the dance after you've already granted the ruling and tells you that before the ruling, what do you do? MARK RUSSELL: Oh, he would have been to go back and play‑‑ Q. There would have been some doubt as to where it would have finally come to rest because you would have had conflicting evidence? MARK RUSSELL: Could have been, absolutely. Q. But if he told you that before you made the ruling‑‑ MARK RUSSELL: Well, I asked the crowd, was anybody out there? I asked the crowd. Q. You had two guys tell you they saw the ball? MARK RUSSELL: Yeah, exactly. So I mean, based on that, where else could it be? Q. I've got you, I'm just saying if the third guy had come in and cast some doubt as to the credibility of the first two guys, then you've got conflicting information. MARK RUSSELL: Then we would have had some conversation there, but that did not happen until after the fact. Q. Do you draw any comparisons with Firestone? MARK RUSSELL: On the roof? Q. Yeah, where the ball was never found until it was in the village later? MARK RUSSELL: Well, people saw that ball go into an obstruction up there. That's a different situation. This ball was through the green. It's nothing like that. And Tiger thought it was kind of strange, too, and his fellow competitor was over there, Geoff Ogilvy. He didn't say anything to me, but I looked at him, I gave him an opportunity to say something. But if you go out there and take a look at it‑‑ that's what I suggest you do before you‑‑ Q. It's pretty bare. MARK RUSSELL: Totally. I mean, I'm going like, where else could the ball be? Q. It's just odd because you're telling us this is what people said they saw but no one saw the ball actually being picked up. As more people are converging on this area than there were, the most people at that point, no one actually saw the theft occur, so you're operating on partial evidence? MARK RUSSELL: Well, I mean, I'm operating on evidence that was given to me by eyewitnesses. Q. Do you have any misgivings about the rule yourself? MARK RUSSELL: No, not at all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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