Rule confirmation.

[Duffymich]

A player takes his tee shot.  The ball goes into a rough area in front of the tee which is notorious for losing balls.  The player tees up another ball on the tee and hits it without declaring it as a provisional.    He finds his first ball within three minutes.  Is this ball in play, or does he have to now play his second ball which he hit off the tee, and if so, what shot is he playing when he reaches it, four?  Ie.  Three off the tee?

[Pandaman]

Rule 18.3b

In summary....  The player must announce or make it clear that a provisional ball is being played. 

If not then the second ball is the ball in play for Stroke and Distance penalty (3 off the tee).

[RickyBobby_PR]

Coming into the thread I was expecting to see the op quoting a rule and looking for confirmation on interpretation.

but op was looking for a ruling without reading the rule panadman covered it