Ball in the Drink -- Penalty?

Joe MacDonald (who was all over this) had an interesting call on the 18th hole at Kapolei during the USGA Amateur Qualifier this week.  After marking his ball on the back of the 18th green, the player tossed his ball to his caddy, who fumble-fingered as he was, dropped it and it rolled into the red penalty area next to the green.  They couldn't retrieve the ball, so the player substituted a new ball and placed it on the green.  Then the fun began as the players tried to figure out if a penalty was involved.  They all seemed to know that if you dropped a ball anywhere on the course, you could freely substitute a ball, but on the green? 

Joe to the rescue.  Rule 14.2a requires a ball to be replaced on the green must be the original ball.  However, an exception to this rule says that if the original ball cannot be recovered with reasonable effort and in a few seconds, so long as the player did not deliberately cause the ball to become unrecoverable, another ball may be used.  Thus, no penalty in this case and the players all learned something about the 2019 Rules of Golf, because prior to 2019 it made no difference if it was on purpose or not, a penalty was imposed.

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