An incident occurred during the 5th Hole of the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open when the eventual winner Haru Nomura was clearly shown on television to hit something that resembled a twig in her backswing while in a bunker. The commentary team referred to this thing as a “pine needle” or “twig” on numerous occasions, but when Nomura made contact with it on her backswing there was no two shot penalty applied for making contact with a loose impediment.
What gives?
Even with the two shot penalty Nomura is still the winner – unless you want to take this to the extreme and argue that Nomura would also be subject to a further two shot penalty for signing for an incorrect scorecard (under Rule 6-6d).
“To the casual viewer on TV, it might seem a bit odd”, said Golf Australia Director of Rules Simon Magdulski, who happened to be the official assigned to Nomura’s group. “But it was actually an open and shut case”.
It turns out that these “twigs” are in fact small roots that seem to pop up everywhere on the West Course at The Grange, and yes we do have them at Harvey!
“In the week leading up to the event, we were well aware that the bunkers had these roots sticking up”, said Magdulski. “To those familiar to the course it’s seen as a feature of these bunkers, so it was a fairly unsurprising situation to be in.”
But why is it important that these are roots instead of twigs or a pine needle?
If it’s a twig, it is a loose impediment. As per decision 13-4/33, you can only make contact with loose impediments while making a stroke – and the backswing is not considered a part of the stroke.
“If the player touches leaves on his backswing, they are in breach of Rule 13-4c which prohibits a player from touching a loose impediment in a hazard before making a stroke in the hazard. A stroke does not begin until after the completion of the player’s backswing”.
But a root is considered an integral part of the course, just like a tree or grass, and anything growing is fair game on the backswing. As such, Nomura’s scorecard and Australian Open title is 100% legitimate and we can appreciate her bunker shot on 5 for what it was.
An outstanding shot.