PGA Tour player disqualified after bizarre rules blunder – here’s what happened and how to avoid it

Ben Crane played the wrong ball and ended up being disqualified.

Know the rules before you play – because hitting the wrong ball can mean more than a penalty. It can end your round.

Ben Crane, a five-time PGA Tour winner known for his quirky personality and meticulous approach, has always stood out on tour – whether it’s for his slow play, bold headwear, or viral stardom as part of the ‘Golf Boys’ crew alongside Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, and Hunter Mahan.

But Crane, now 49, is no longer battling at the top end of golf’s pyramid. Once ranked as high as 30th in the world, he’s dropped well outside the top 1,000 and has spent recent times grinding away on the Korn Ferry Tour with limited success.

In 2025, he’d teed it up just twice before last week – missing the cut at both the Puerto Rico Open and the Club Car Championship. So when Crane made it to the weekend at the Corales Puntacana Championship, it felt like a rare opportunity to register a good finish.

Unfortunately, it all came undone in round three – and in the most frustrating way possible. Crane had to disqualify himself after a bizarre but avoidable mistake involving a wrong ball and a rarely-seen rule. Here’s what happened and how you can avoid making the same mistake.

What happened?

On the eighth hole, Crane hit his tee shot toward a penalty area and assumed it had found the hazard. He took a drop under penalty, hit what he believed was his third shot into the fairway, and walked up expecting to play an approach as his fourth shot.

But when he arrived at his ball, he found two balls – both his.

Crane and his playing partner, David Lipsky, realised what had happened: his original tee shot must have ricocheted off the rocks in the hazard and bounced back into play.

At this point, you might be thinking Crane got lucky and could just play his original ball and carry on. But the Rules of Golf say otherwise…

The rules: Why Crane was disqualified

Under Rule 17.1c, once a player puts another ball into play to take penalty relief from a penalty area, their original ball is no longer in play – even if it’s later found on the course.

Rule 17.1 c. Relief for Ball Not Found but in Penalty Area

If a player’s ball has not been found and it is known or virtually certain that the ball came to rest in a penalty area:

• The player may take penalty relief under Rule 17.1d or 17.2.

• Once the player puts another ball in play to take relief in this way:
  • The original ball is no longer in play and must not be played.
  • This is true even if it is then found on the course before the end of the three-minute search time (see Rule 6.3b).

It was an honest mistake – but a costly one. A rare shot at a solid finish vanished instantly.

How to avoid this mistake

This isn’t just a pro problem – it’s something that can catch out club golfers too. Here’s how to protect yourself from a similar DQ:

• Mark your ball clearly. Use sharpie dots, lines, initials – anything that helps you identify it with 100% certainty.
• If you’re playing a provisional or dropping a ball, make sure you use a ball with a different mark and/or number so you can easily tell them apart.
• Don’t assume your ball is lost until you’ve done a proper search. If there’s a chance it stayed in play, look for it before abandoning it and taking a drop.
• Know the rules around when a ball is “in play” or “out of play.” Once you’ve dropped and played another ball, your original is no longer valid – even if you find it seconds later.

Final thought

Ben Crane’s story is a tough pill to swallow – especially for a player scraping for starts in the final years of his career. But it’s also a perfect reminder of golf’s brutal attention to detail.

One mistaken identity, one forgotten rule, and a good week turns into a DQ.

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