Did Charl Schwartzel Break the Rules at Doral?

A loyal Waggle Room reader sent a question into me about something he observed in the final round of the WGC CA Championship involving Charl Schwartzel.

Here's the question:

At the par 3 15th on Sunday, Els was in the back sand trap and Schwartzel was short of the green in the front bunker with a "fried egg" lie. If you watch the playback, you saw Charl hit the fried egg ball into the back bunker sand trap with Els. Out of disgust, Charl standing in the front bunker hit his club into the fried egg area. If I recall it correctly, if your ball is in a sand trap and you ground your club then it’s a penalty even if it’s not the sand trap your ball may be in.

I consulted with our friends at the PGA Tour to verify what happened and see if Charl did break a rule.  The rules official consulted said that Schwartzel did not break rule rule 13-4.

13-4/38  Sand Smoothed After Ball Played Out of Bunker; Ball Later Returns to Smoothed Area

Q. After playing his ball out of a greenside bunker, the player smoothes his footprints. He then discovers that his ball is in another bunker on the other side of the green. He plays out of the second bunker and the ball comes to rest in the smoothed area of the first bunker. What is the ruling?

A. No penalty was incurred. The player did not smooth his footprints in the first bunker while his ball still lay in that bunker - see Exception 2 to Rule 13-4.

If, however, the player failed to extricate his ball from the first bunker with his first stroke and had smoothed his footprints while his ball still lay in that bunker, he would have incurred a penalty if the act of smoothing his footprints had caused a breach of Rule 13-2 with respect to his next stroke. (Revised)

I hope this helps you out on the course as well!