Year of Rules Snafus Continues...
by Charles Boyer on Nov 1, 2010 9:15 AM EDT
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Were it not for the foibles and tribulations of one Eldrick Tont Woods, 2010 would undoubtedly be known as the "Year of Rules (Screwups.)" Hardly a tournament goes by this year, or so it seems, without one golf rule or the other being broken and that having a major effect on who wins and who doesn't.
In this week's edition Colin Montogomerie was the perp when his caddy moved an advertising sign that was deemed an immovable obstruction, costing him two strokes -- and keeping him from being in a playoff against Lorena Ochoa in the pro-celebrity Star Trophy at Mission Hills in Haikou, China.
That's a far cry from what Dustin Johnson did to himself in this year's PGA Championship, but it still made certain that Monty doesn't get to cash the winner's check for $1.28 million.
While it was costly for Monty, it was by no means even close to the biggest penalty assessment of the weekend.
According to golfchannel.com,that dubious distinction went to Ryuji Imada:
Due to the soft state of the Blackstone course, players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls. Imada assumed this meant within one club length of the original position, as is standard procedure on the PGA Tour.
However, the European and Asian Tours use the length of one scorecard as a measurement. It wasn’t until the 12th hole that fellow competitor Danny Lee noticed Imada was breaking the rule and informed him.
Ooops. Mata ne!
The Decisions on the Rules of golf weighs in at some 603 pages -- quite a tome for one to read and memorize. Still, ask any lawyer who's taken his bar exam, or a doctor who's passed his boards, or a CPA who's gotten his or her state boards and you'll hear tales of woe about how much work it took to know the material through and through, and how they must take continuing education every year in order to stay up to date. That in mind, it's really hard to take seriously a professional golfer who claims ignorance of the rules, the decisions and the local rules that govern a given tournament course or competition. Other walks of life are bound by their rules, and golf is no different -- and it is a player's job to know and abide by the rules of their craft.
Amateur golfers may think that following the letter of the law on the course is too much to expect, but the pros are expected -- no, actually required -- to play by the rules, all of the rules and not doing so can result in unfortunate circumstances. Unpleasant, yes, but it is what it is and one can be sure that no governing body or tour is going to change those expectations. Pros are, well, pros, and they also have the benefit of having rules officials to help them in a situation where they aren't sure of the right course of action. In other words, really, they have no excuse.
Finally, regarding a player who suffers under the rules, keep in mind that a penalty is like a bad shot: in a tournament it will make someone very unhappy but on the other hand, will secretly delight their competition. While Monty may have gone home in a foul mood, the tone on Lorena Ochoa's flight was almost certainly decidedly lighter.
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Agree wholeheartedly on the Decisions. That’s definitely more of a help to the pros who have people around who always have access to The Big Book of Golf Rules (special edition combines a few Where’s Waldo positionings) Most of us can get along with just the regular rule book and be relatively sure we’re holding to the rules.
But these problems would not have been solved in the Decisions book. All three were local rules that they could have fixed with a quick read of one sheet of paper.
signs are always movable obstructions or even line of sight. what were the tournament people thinking ?
Imada’s problem…club length is definitely the rule on the PGA Tour, so you can understand that mistake (multiplied by 13). But doesn’t the LPGA play a shorter length for lift, clean, and place ? So it’s not a hard and fast rule even on this continent.
You’d think that after what DJ did just a couple of months ago, these players would be sure to read the local rules and have teir caddies read them as well.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
contempt ? maybe laziness….or mistakes…but there isn’t any contempt here. (well – maybe from Monty, and he’d have an argument)
"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens." - Ben Stein
Just paraphrasing Court. But all the same, not reading the local rules is bordering on contempt, if not stupidity.
CHIP, I like the word
stupid rather than contempt……STUB
Boy, ever since ya played with the MAN,
ya sure been gettin uppity….Howsomeever, I think stupid and lazy kind of sums it all up….When ya Playin agin, and who ya takin the money from ? Don’t be givin us that crock of you know what yur not a hustler, like Minnesota Fats, etc….Yur secrets safe with us cause we have the feeling Wendy does the same thing at her club…..jis sayin…..STUB
Uppity, moi?
Stub, I’m a sheila, it’s my job to be uppity. Lord knows when I’m playing again. Next week is the Singapore Open and I may go on the last day to watch. Does that count?
I only know the 6"/scorecard
rule for lift, clean & place, so I would have been OK in the States whilst still in ignorance of the different rule. I assume the committee at Mission Hills, when deciding playing conditions merited lift, clean & place, did spell out the measurement? If not I do feel a bit sorry for Imada on this one. What’s the rule in OZ, NZ, Chip?
I think the DQ for Faldo for picking up his ball when he missed his putt (had a mental blackout & thought it was matchplay!) was a bigger penalty?
Wendy – if Faldo hadn’t left the green, he could have taken a penalty and played on – but he picked up his ball (thinking his partner’s score counted for him) and headed to the next hole – then it was too late.
"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens." - Ben Stein
I can't believe his caddy or amateur playing partner said nothing
Do you think he echoed those famous words “What a silly I am”?
Why, on earth, was there no adjacent sign saying ...
“Do not remove other sign”?
Takes two to tangle...
The complaince of rules is a two way street, taking into consideration the pressure of the players, and their caddies, obviously, unwillingly, rules will be broken, its not to say that these rule brakers are dishonest or deliberatley taking chances, but to say in the heat of the moment, the focus is elsewhere. When in doubt, the players obviously have the right to request a decision from a course marshal, of which, i understand there are plenty, or even to consult the the player who is marking his/her score card., as we do in an amateur competition, where there is a lack of marshals.
There is also something called sports, the generic meaning of the words, fair play, and it seems that only after the player has unknowingly infringed a rule, is he picked out, either by a marhall or the player marking his card.
I know from myself, that playing in an amateur competition on a course where one hole had two T marks for front nine and back nine, (same green hole number 8 fornt nine and hole number 17 back nine) I was doing incredibly well through 16 and when I got to 17, my mind was on pure focus and hiting a nice draw over the forrest for best second shot position to the green on the 500yd par 5, I unconsciously set my T on the 8 (which is 4 meters forward of the 17) and hit a beautiful shot to where I pictured it would go, after the other two players in my three ball laughed and one of them said T is nehind you mate, take your penalty and hit again, it knocked me dead! I hit two balls out of bounds from the T and I was out of the competition, score wise.
With all due respect they could have been gentlemanly about it and advised me before I T’d off the wrong box, I know I do warn players when I am on that particular hole, because it is confusing, competition or not!
For the record I think the worst rule blunder of 2010 was DQ’ng Furyk for oversleeping at the pro-am, fortunately that rule has been corrected!
"If it doesn't work, you are trying to hard."
http://twitter.com/Roy_Ko
So THAT’S why royko didn’t pass that audition for “Dancing With The Stars” – they said tango and he thought professional wrestling ! :-D
Great story on the tee box. I’ll bet we’ve all done that and it’s always embarrassing. (lol)
It’s a good point. We are creatures of habit – and usually for good reason. If we had to go through a mental checklist of EVERYthing, we wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. Monty saw the sign – and it’s a movable obstruction everywhere in the world except right there. Imada has been on the PGA Tour for more than a decade and it has always been a club length.
I don’t think anybody has accused either of trying to cheat.
And the Furyk DQ was only a blunder on his side – not the Tour’s. It looked like a Tour blunder only in hindsight. That rule was put in place for a very good reason.
"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens." - Ben Stein
tangling with the tango
haha…:) I picked the tangle word carefuly, sometimes, during these club championships, it seems like a pro wrestling moment with what goes on qwith the personality’s….pffft
I’d say that T-Box confusion was the angriest (and most embarrasing) moment for me on the golf course in 30yrs of playing, byt the way am I breaking any rules if I warn a player before he or she infringes one? i.e. the T- box thing or a hazzard moment…
"If it doesn't work, you are trying to hard."
http://twitter.com/Roy_Ko
No
Warning someone of an impending infringement is within the rules, not to mention good manners. Giving advice is not.
Quite often a playing partner whilst chatting away
will absent-mindedly tee off from the wrong set. We let them do it & then thoroughly enjoy pointing out their mistake – especially if they have had as good a tee-shot as royko. We wouldn’t do this in competition of course. By the way, there is no penalty in match-play provided the ball is immediately replayed from the correct set. Tough to get a 2-stroke penalty when it’s stroke play.
not at all – it’s good sportsmanship to let someone know they are about to break a rule.
it cost Tom Kite a tournament a while back. He was down a shot when the guy he was playing with hit his ball into an area of Ground Under Repair. The rule is that you have to take complete relief – meaning you can’t have your feet still in the GUR when you play your next shot. Kite saw it and told him. The penalty would have given Kite the win – but he said he didn’t want to win that way.
"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens." - Ben Stein
stroke it...
Coming off a birdie at the stroke 1 16th, i was peeved i tell you, all I had to do was par the 17th par five, which is not difficult if you drive it over the forrest (at least 220yds which is not an impossible carry with the wind behind me), you then get a good downhill roll and a simple 3 wood to a large green with an easy bunker in the way if you short, so birdies and pars are likely if you carry the forrest, then a nice downhill 180yd par 3, and I woulda been a sure 67 net for a win, but the 2 stroke penalty for wrong T-box and a further two drives I sliced outa bounds, just killed it… then I double bogied the par 3 from sheer golfers “can’t get over that”. That day will be in golf memory forever!!!! My marker was the Ambassador from FInland at the time, and i told him, quite tercly, that his idea of diplomacy sucked…
"If it doesn't work, you are trying to hard."
http://twitter.com/Roy_Ko
I got no notice....
They did notice, and prefered to say nought….A stroke play event, can’t honestly remember the sponsor, though I never forget 17….sigh
"If it doesn't work, you are trying to hard."
http://twitter.com/Roy_Ko
What about marshalls? Should they also read the local rules?
What I had read is that Monty’s caddy was assisting the marshall in removing the sign. While it is the player who is penalized, it’s mickey mouse for the event to more closely resemble a challenge on Big Break China (panes of glass next year perhaps) and to have marshalls not up to speed on the local rules as well.
a “marshall” at a tournament is pretty much an inaccurate term. They aren’t there so much to guide the players as they are to keep the galleries under control and out of the way. “Marshalls” hold up the “quiet please” signs, hold ropes, and watch for balls.
They aren’t rules officials, but you do make a good point. It might be a good idea to have a little tutorial before they are sent out to their posts.
"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Obama wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens." - Ben Stein
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