A small mistake with big consequences: At the Corales Puntacana Championship, a breach of the rules was Ben Crane’s undoing. After making a mistake at the PGA Tour event, he disqualified himself.
On hole 8 of the third round in the Dominican Republic, the ball supposedly landed in the water after the tee shot. Crane then played a second ball from the tee, which came to rest near the penalty area. Once there, however, the American found two balls. His first ball had not landed in the water but hit the rocks and bounced back onto the course. Crane made a mistake in identifying the ball and inadvertently continued to play his first ball. As the second ball was already in play, this was illegal. It was not until the following hole that Crane discovered scratches on his ball caused by the impact with the rocks and realized his mistake.
Rules of golf: Wrong ball played
The Rules of Golf state that, as a rule, a hole must be played with one ball from start to finish. Rule 6.3b states: “If the player’s original ball has not been found and the player put another ball in play to take stroke-and-distance relief or as allowed under a Rule that applies when it is known or virtually certain what happened to the ball: The player must continue playing with the substituted ball, and the player must not play the original ball even if it is found on the course before the end of the three-minute search time.”
If a player continues to play with the original ball, this is regarded as playing the wrong ball. According to Rule 6.3c(1), a player is obliged to correct a mistake before teeing off on the next hole. It states: “If the player does not correct the mistake before making a stroke to begin another hole or, for the final hole of the round, before returning their scorecard, the player is disqualified.”
Disqualified myself today here is why. pic.twitter.com/i26Gxv8d80
— Ben Crane (@bencranegolf) April 19, 2025
Ben Crane addressed the public after the incident via his X account and described the situation from his perspective. He explained how the mistake came about and why he decided to take the consequences in the form of self-disqualification. His honest account and the decision to hold himself accountable were widely appreciated in the golf community.