Repairing the cup before putting

[TigerWoods]

Hi Gary,

During a round this season, on a par 3, I almost made a slam dunk hole-in-one... The ball landed about half an inch in front of the hole, bounced on the pin and stopped a few inches away... A gimme birdie

Problem is: When the ball landed, the cup was completely destroyed. In fact, the ball landed so hard on the green that the ball mark was from the point of impact to the cup and made it impossible to remove the flagstick from the hole without moving some grass and dirt that was part of the cup. I know (or at least I was told) that a golfer cannot repair the cup before finishing the hole but when I removed the flagstick the cup's "state" was changed because of all the grass and dirt that moved. I was wondering if that was considered repairing the cup and if it was penalizable or not....

Thanks

[Gary Hill]

If the proper dimensions of the hole have been changed materially, the player should request the Committee to have the hole repaired.

If a Committee Member is not readily available, the player may repair the damage, without penalty.

(You very seldom see Tour players repair the hole because the Committee is always readily available for them.)