Nasa Hataoka got off to a fast start Friday at the Shoprite LPGA Classic, shooting a 6-under 65 that left her tied for third place, two shots off the lead, and was helped by a cameraman to find her ball in a fescue. on his last hole. .
The next day she was disqualified.
The LPGA announced on Saturday that Hataoka had exceeded the allotted 3-minute time that players can search for lost balls (Rule 18.2a) and was subsequently deemed to have played from the wrong spot (Rule 14.7) because she had not played. he proceeded under stroke and distance (Rule 18.2b).
In a statement, the LPGA said it had reviewed video footage of the situation and that Hataoka had committed “a serious violation of Rule 14.7 with a disqualification penalty if not corrected in time. The player had until she left the goal area to correct this error.”
Hataoka hit his second shot on the par-5 ninth at Seaview Golf Club, his final hole of the day, to the right of the green and into the tall fescue. She was joined by more than a dozen people, including Golf Channel on-course reporter Tom Abbott, who noted during the broadcast that there was “concern” about whether the search was taking more than 3 minutes, but there was also no time. certain.
The broadcast showed less than half of the total search, which ended when a cameraman found Hataoka’s ball. At this time, a rules official arrived to help Hataoka accept an unplayable. Abbott then added on air: “There doesn’t seem to be any conversation about how long it took to find the ball.”
Rule 18.2a states that “a ball is lost if it is not found three minutes after the player or his caddy begins searching for it.” And 18.2b adds: “If a ball is lost or out of bounds, the player must take stroke and distance relief by adding a penalty stroke and playing the original ball or another ball from which the previous stroke was made.”
Rule 14.7b(1) includes this: “If the player does not correct the error before making a stroke to begin another hole or, for the last hole of the round, before returning his scorecard, the player is disqualified.” .
Jenny Shin, who leads after 36 holes at 10 under par, weighed in on Twitter Saturday night.
“This is probably controversial,” Shin wrote. “Nasa Hataoka’s disqualification because someone thought 25 seconds had passed for 3 minutes after the scorecard was signed, shouldn’t be happening. Should someone take the time to prevent this? However, maybe, if I heard correctly, there was a rules official who was present to help her take an unplayable and all the players/caddies in the group did not mention anything to the official even after the fact This is probably costing her dearly for the next Olympics.
Hataoka is currently ranked 19th in the Rolex Rankings, the second highest player in Japan and three spots ahead of Japan’s next player, No. 22 Ayaka Furue.
