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I think the USGA screwed up in their handling of the situation. One should question how many times in normal tour event does a ball moving on a green even come up. It came up 3 times in the US Open. In the strictest sense of the rules, Lowry’s ball moved and he was penalized. He “addressed” the ball, in the sense spelled out in the rules defining addressing the ball. He soled his putter behind the ball and the ball moved…penalty. I doubt that his action of addressing the ball actually made it move but that is how the rules have been interpreted. Another player had his ball move on Sunday and he was not penalized…he told the official he did not sole his putter. End of story for him. Strange, did they not want to review taped footage of him…oh…maybe there wasn’t any taped footage.
Think about it…3 different instances in the US Open and the ball moves. How bizarre is that?