Tending the flag ? | Golf Monthly

Re reading the rules I agree with yandabrown and partially with Duncan

It depends on whether the action was deliberate or accidental and if deliberate who is responsible for the deliberate action

13.2 For purposes of this Rule, "deliberately deflected or stopped" means the same thing as in Rule 11.2a, and includes when the player’s ball in motion hits:

• A removed flagstick that was deliberately positioned or left in a particular place on the ground so that it might deflect or stop the ball,
• An attended flagstick that the person deliberately failed to remove from the hole or to move out of the way of the ball, or
• The person who attended or removed the flagstick (or anything the person was holding), when he or she deliberately failed to move out of the way of the ball.

(2) What to Do If Ball Hits Flagstick or Person Attending Flagstick. If the player’s ball in motion hits a flagstick that the player had decided to have removed under (1), or hits the person who is attending the flagstick (or anything the person is holding), what happens depends on whether this was accidental or deliberate:

• Ball Accidentally Hits Flagstick or Person Who Removed or Is Attending It. If the player’s ball in motion accidentally hits the flagstick or the person who removed or is attending it (or anything the person is holding), there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies.

• Ball Deliberately Deflected or Stopped by Person Attending Flagstick. If the person who is attending the flagstick deliberately deflects or stops the player’s ball in motion, Rule 11.2c applies:

Where Ball Is Played from. The player must not play the ball as it lies and instead must take relief under Rule 11.2c.

When Penalty Applies. If the person who deliberately deflected or stopped the ball was a player or his or her caddie, that player gets the general penalty for a breach of Rule 11.2.