Q. Dan and Mike are playing the third hole in a match. Their balls lie within a few inches of each other in the fairway. First, Dan plays the ball he believes is his, and then Mike plays the remaining ball. Upon reaching the green, they discover they exchanged balls back in the fairway. What is the ruling?
A. As Dan was first to play a stroke with a wrong ball, he incurred the loss of hole penalty. All subsequent actions are irrelevant as the result of the hole had been determined.