Q. We were interested in what happened with Noh and his driver. He told us he cracked it in his swing on 12. From a rules perspective can you give me a timeline of what happened with him over the next couple holes?
JOHN MUTCH: Well, on the 12th hole he called for a ruling, and we looked at the club head, and it had a slight hairline crack in the face. Under Model Local Rule G-9, a club is not replaceable solely because of a crack. He wanted to know if he could replace the club. The answer to that was no. There needed to be some more subsequent damage other than just a hairline crack.
Q. It looked like after 13, enough damage was sufficient. What kind of changed after he hit it on 13?
JOHN MUTCH: Okay, after he hit it on 13, it became significant damage. There was definitely separation in the metal on the face, and there was clear concavity in the face. Concavity renders a club face non-conforming. So the club at that point was unfit for play. This all is highlighted under Model Local Rule G-9 in the rules.
Q. He wouldn't have been able to replace it had the head been in his bag, but he was able to grab it from the locker room and bring it out to him for him to change it out out there?
JOHN MUTCH: Correct, so if he's going to replace the club, it can't be something that he's carried with him, but it can be something that he has in a locker or in his car or some other place.
He had somebody go retrieve a head, I believe from his locker, and then at that point he can reuse the shaft that he had and put that head on and configure it to the way he wanted it. Once he configures it and uses it, then it has to stay that way for the rest of the round.
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