Every month former MGA Senior Director of Rules and Competitions Gene Westmoreland will answer one question posed by the readers of the MGA e-Revision Newsletter (click here to sign up). Jim from New Jersey asked Gene the following Rules question:

Q: A team is playing in a four-man scramble tournament and their best shot on a par four is 10 feet from the hole. Player A just misses his putt and proceeds to tap in the next putt for par. Can the three other players still putt for the birdie?

Gene responds:

The “scramble” format is not covered by the Rules of Golf, so it is left for the committee in charge of the event to determine of the Rules of Golf will apply with regard to this situation. With regard to a four-ball competition, the player would be penalized if he allowed his partner (or his caddie or his partner’s caddie) to position himself on or close to an extension of his line of putt. The penalty is two strokes ion stroke play and loss of hole in match play. Keep in mind that the “line of putt” ends at the hole so a player would be free to allow his partner to stand on the other side of the hole while he putts. See rule 14-2.