Words: Chris Wallace
Penalty area relief
Cameron Smith found himself in an unusual and quite costly Rules situation in the FedEx St Jude Championship, as Chris Wallace, Rules manager at The R&A, explains.
Two strokes off the lead after three rounds, Smith dropped to four back following a meeting with the chief referee, having been assessed a two-stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place (Rule 14.7) as a result of an improper drop early in his third round.
The incident in question happened at the par-3 4th on Saturday after his tee shot found the water. Having opted to take lateral relief (two club-lengths) under Rule 17, Smith was required to drop a ball in a very narrow strip of ground due to the geometry of where the hole was located, and in order to avoid dropping somewhere that was closer to the hole.
Having measured out this narrow area, he dropped within his relief area, but the ball rolled back to a position where it was rest on
