Caddy’s astute question about rules unlocks “dead zone” relief for tour pros

Austin Kaiser was bitten by a tree.

He was pricked by a stone.

Then he asked a question that helped ensure his man didn’t get a scratch.

“Isn’t that in our way?”

The PGA Tour ShotLink tower and its cables were confirmed by a Tour rules official on Thursday. And what followed was almost miraculous relief for Xander Schauffele at Quail Hollow Club, where he took the lead after the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship.

“Maybe that’s the break that makes the difference this week,” analyst Frank Nobilo said on the Golf Channel broadcast.

The sequence began after Schauffele hit his tee shot on the 356-yard par-4 8th. Hole went to the right and after a search the ball was found a few meters to the left of a chain link fence, near some larger holes rocks and under thick tree cover, all in a red marked penalty area. Questions followed.

Could Schauffele get relief from a penalty from there? He could do it, even if it would be a long step backwards. But couldn’t he also try a swing? He could try it. Some work was required. The stones were in the way, and Schauffele called over Kaiser, his caddy, who worked his way into the tree area and moved them according to the rules, but not before he was injured by the trees (“Ow, ow,” he shouted) and the Stein (“That one fucking hurts,” he said.)

The player and the caddy came out of the trees. They wondered about the shot, which would require a low punch-out. But Kaiser spotted the ShotLink tower, which is considered a temporary immovable obstacle (TIO) under the rules, and posed his question to rules official Dave Donnelly, but that sparked another question.

Can you relieve TIO in the penalty area?

According to this USGA online explainer on TIOs, this is possible, but only as long as the TIO was in the line of sight between the ball and the hole and a reasonable play on the ball was possible. Were the tower or the tower’s cables in the way? Was Schauffele able to hit a shot toward the hole? Schauffele, Kaiser and Donnelly went back into the trees. They spoke.

The relief was granted.

Rules official Mark Dusbabek said on the Golf Channel broadcast: “You can see the camera tower right there. It’s one of our ShotLink camera towers with a cable coming off of it. So the decision that Dave just made is that Xander – can Xander make it through the trees there to that camera tower? And Dave made the decision that he could. This will give him relief. It will be free relief even if he is in the penalty area. He has to stay in the penalty area to be able to claim his full relief.”

Notably, the relief took Schauffele from the location near the fence and under the trees to several meters away from the fence and clear of the tree cover. From there, he hit one pitch, two putts for a foursome and signed a seven-under 64, good for a three-shot lead entering Friday.

“It’s a great breakthrough for him here,” Dusbabek told Golf Channel. “It’s all within the rules. And that’s why those responsible on site can help him so that he doesn’t make any mistakes. He knows he can ask these questions and that you can help him and give him the best answer possible.”

How did Schauffele see it?

He said he knew he was lucky.

“When we got there,” he said on the Golf Channel, “it was pretty much dead and I started touching the two rocks next to me and I thought, OK, Austin, it’s OK, I can do them move; they are not embedded. I mean, they were big rocks. I don’t know if the camera caught Austin trying to move one of them, but there were worms and all sorts of gross stuff on them. So we moved two checkers, and then it was virtually impossible to hit backwards because the fence was so far away from my ball (shown) that the only progress since the two checkers were moved was actually hitting it hit towards the green.

“And so I brought the rules official in and I was like, that literally means either I go back to the tee or I try to force him forward, and if I force him forward, the worst case scenario is he stays there stuck and.” then I can just knock it out again and then I would grind for a five. But he was like, “I mean, the wire was perfectly in the way, the tower was in the most convenient spot possible, so I can take both sides of the tower the same distance, went to the left, the club length took me to the extreme.” Edge.” I hit the pine straw and hit what I thought was an incredible shot that sent him onto the green, and then it was a sweaty two-putt. … It was very fortunate, one, that they found it, and two, to get that kind of relief out of the absolute dead zone.”

What did the Golf Channel team on site see?

They also noted Kaiser’s question.

Spokesman Terry Gannon said: “He has a good caddy too. I think it was Austin who first noticed that tower was in the way.”

Analyst Curt Byrum said: “I think you’re right.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Publisher

Nick Piastowski is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across golf. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can contact him about any of these topics – his stories, his playing or his beers – at [email protected].