[Senasivar]

In the third round of the HSBC, Anthony Kim hit his ball into a hazard (I believe it was a lateral hazard.) The ball was several feet into the hazard, which was thick vegetation, but Kim elected to play it. He took a hard swing but the ball didn't come out.

While everyone was looking for the ball, the announcers started discussing Kim's options and one announcer mentioned a "lost ball" and the other announcer corrected him and said "no, you can't lose a ball in a hazard" and the first announcer quickly said "oh, that's right, you can't have a lost ball in a hazard."

I've never heard that. I scanned the USGA Rules, but couldn't find an explanation. Can anyone enlighten me?

[mensforyouthis]

Certainly you can lose a ball in a hazard, but under the rules is isn't a "lost ball" as covered in Rule 27. You still follow the procedure as laid out in Rule 26 for ball in hazard. Same as a ball that is unplayable in a hazard doesn't come under Rule 28, but again is covered by Rule 26.

In the case of AK, if he did not find his ball after the stroke in the hazard, or found it unplayable still in the hazard, he can still proceed under Rule 26-1 and drop in one of the 3 places as described in that rule.

[Senasivar]

Certainly you can lose a ball in a hazard, but under the rules is isn't a "lost ball" as covered in Rule 27. You still follow the procedure as laid out in Rule 26 for ball in hazard. Same as a ball that is unplayable in a hazard doesn't come under Rule 28, but again is covered by Rule 26.

In the case of AK, if he did not find his ball after the stroke in the hazard, or found it unplayable still in the hazard, he can still proceed under Rule 26-1 and drop in one of the 3 places as described in that rule.

Duh. Brain fart.