John: If the Committee concluded that Reed had deliberately created the pitch mark (understanding that you wouldn’t so find but others may differ), when must the decision be made? Before he signs? Before he’s awarded the prize? Ever?
If it can be shown that a player broke a rule and didn’t add the penalty for it there is no time limit. This means he knew what he did and he knew before the competition was over that it was against the rules to do it.
Here is the wording of all the reasons a player in stroke play can be disqualified after the competition is final:
But a player must be disqualified even after the competition is closed if he or she:
• Returned a score for any hole lower than actually taken for any reason other than failing to include one or more penalty strokes that, before the competition closed, the player did not know about (see Rule 3.3b(3)),
• Knew before the competition had closed that the returned scorecard showed a handicap that was higher than the actual handicap, and this affected the number of handicap strokes used to adjust the player’s score (see Rule 3.3b(4)),
• Knew before the competition had closed that he or she was in breach of any other Rule with a penalty of disqualification, or
• Deliberately agreed with another player to ignore any Rule or penalty they knew applied (see Rule 1.3b(1)).
The Committee may also disqualify a player under Rule 1.2 (serious misconduct) after the competition has closed.