I don't know whether to send this letter to you or the officials or whatever. Obviously this won't reach you. It's a blog post, not an actual letter but I'll write it nontheless.
The date is August 15th, 2010. Remember it well because it's the day that you cost, that's right COST, Dustin Johnson a shot at winning the PGA Championship.
You need to look back at some of your rules because they are way too harsh and punish the player for the most ludicrous reasons. Change the rules because they suck. I can't word it much better than that because that's how I feel.
Good day, The TL blogger known as supernova
I guess I should explain what happened to all of you reading who didn't see what happened at Whistling Straits.
Dustin Johnson had a one stroke lead going into the last hole of his playthrough. His drive off the tee wasn't too pretty and it landed in the gallery (this hole is a par 4 btw). His second shot lands behind a bunker in the rough. Stroke number two. He then lands it within, I'm horrible with estimates but I'd say about 6-8 feet from the hole. Stroke number three. He misses his putt to win the Championship and puts in a gimme for a bogey which would have sent him into a three-player playoff to determine the champion.
Instead, one of the stupidest things I have seen happens and Dustin Johnson is left out of the playoff and is forced to watch from the sidelines.
When Johnson completed his day, the officals went back to look at the footage of stroke 2. They claim that he landed in a sand trap. A (stupid) rule says that Johnson cannot "ground his club" before taking his shot. Instead Johnson, who clearly had other things on his mind like recovering from a bad tee shot, hit the ball whilst grounding it effectively costing him a chance to win the PGA Championship.
Now note that he took his shot from the gallery (where all the spectators stand). Because there was a slight indentation and because there was sand there, the officals thought that should be labelled a sand trap. Not even close.
Here's why: Said sand trap was in the gallery. The gallery isn't technically a field of play. Therefore, it shouldn't have been an infraction against Johnson. But since the rules of golf were appartently written by a complete, incompetent moron; Johnson was penalized. You can watch the video yourself; I'm sure it's floating around on YouTube.
In sport, there are supposed to be logical, easy to understand rules. Golf is considered one of the major sports not only in America, but around the world. Golf officals however, are completely unaware of this fact. Johsnon was standing in a sandy area were hundreds of people were standing and treading on for four days. And because of that, he was penalized.
But let's not forget our congratulations to Martin Kaymer who won the playoff between himself and Bubba Watson. But instead of two men, there should have been three.
That shit was so absurd. But it's not like the PGA ruled badly. He did violate a clear rule, they interviewed a head official who basically said they instructed players before this week even began that there were a crapload of bunkers at this course and they will all be treated the same way any bunker is treated. Inside the ropes or outside.
that being said I've always thought grounding ur club in a bunker being a 2 stroke penalty is a really retarded rule anyway.
The joke is there were ppl literally standing/sitting in the same bunker he's hitting out of. And theres no clear lip or anything that would even make it seem like a bunker. At the time I thought it was just stomped down dirt that you typically see when players have to take shots from where the gallery has been walking all day.
On August 16 2010 13:38 supernova wrote: Here's why: Said sand trap was in the gallery. The gallery isn't technically a field of play. Therefore, it shouldn't have been an infraction against Johnson. But since the rules of golf were appartently written by a complete, incompetent moron; Johnson was penalized. You can watch the video yourself; I'm sure it's floating around on YouTube.
In sport, there are supposed to be logical, easy to understand rules. Golf is considered one of the major sports not only in America, but around the world. Golf officals however, are completely unaware of this fact. Johsnon was standing in a sandy area were hundreds of people were standing and treading on for four days. And because of that, he was penalized.
The rules clearly stated that all the bunkers on the course would be treated with the same rule. He knew about those rules. He made a mistake, not the officials.
Saying the rules may need to be looked at is one thing, but the officials did nothing wrong today.
I am probably going to be the only reply here... heh.
First of all, the rule is that you cannot ground your club in a sand trap. The problem was that he DID ground the club, not that he failed to do so.
Anyway, the rules official made it quite clear that the tournament-specific (or "local") rules were posted throughout the week and readily available for all players to view. Near the top of the list, it stated that for all bunkers (and WS has a shit ton of them), whether inside or outside the ropes, the normal rules of golf apply (i.e. you cannot ground your club).
I think Feherty said it best... as a golfer, if you are ever even the tiniest bit unsure about what the rules are in a given situation, you can either ask an official or NOT ground your club to be safe. I know personally whenever I am in a waste area like that (even if he didn't think it was technically a "bunker"), I don't ground my club, just out of habit. Last thing you want to do is screw yourself for something so silly. Unfortunately for him, it happened on one of the biggest stages in golf.
Between Pebble and this, bad year for the Dustin Johnson camp.
Having played golf a bunch (high school) anyone with more than my level of experience should know that ANY sand and water are pretty much classified as hazard... you touch that with your club you get penalized.
That said the whole situation was dumb because there was people pretty much within 5 feet of the guy on BOTH sides. It was kind of on the fringe-ish area (where the specators were no less) where there was some sand and where it kind of faded to grass.
Not saying he shouldn't have know that would probably be classified as a hazard... but still that's pretty whacked out.
But yeah, that's pretty absurd that this happened and cost the man a chance to win a major.
I don't get it. They stated the rules, someone violates and does not penalize himself for the mistake, and DQ follows. That's the way it is. That's golf. Rules were set.
If Dustin was unsure about it, he could've just called up the Walking scorer and call up the PGA Rules Officials. I have volunteered in the past (and volunteering next week at the Barclays), and it's not that hard. Just ask the volunteers, the volunteers go to the correct channel on the radio, and call for the Rules Officials for the official ruling/options.
I don't know how PGA cost Dustin the championship. He broke the rules that PGA set out.
Answer: he should have called over an official to take a close look at his lie if he wasn't going to play it as though it was a bunker... the players were warned that this was a characteristic of the course.
On August 16 2010 13:59 micronesia wrote: Answer: he should have called over an official to take a close look at his lie if he wasn't going to play it as though it was a bunker... the players were warned that this was a characteristic of the course.
Sucks for him.
Yes they were warned, point for you. My arguement is that not only the rule is mind-boggling stupid but also, it took them unitl after he finished his round to say "Hey, you broke the rules. We gotta assess you a penalty." Add that to the fact that his lie was in something that didn't even resemble a bunker and I think that he was robbed.
The fact that they ruled after the fact on it is nothing new. There is a precedent that violations will be brought up later all the time in the era of video recording. Sometimes spectators call in to identify something they noticed from tv lol
Whether or not the rule is stupid is of course unrelated to the ruling. The only aspect of this I'm a bit unsure of is what determines whether is lie is inside or outside of the bunker when there isn't a clear edge.
Ya it was pretty lame. In a situation like this its always the players fault, however the PGA fucked this one up big time. Its stupid to play the course that way and let people walk and step in bunkers. The marshalls this week were dodgy at best. Tiger seriously hit a shot that if he pushed at ALL would have hit someone in the face with a 3 wood off a hook lie.
And the rules of golf do have things that arent fair but every rule is there for a reason. Intent is to be avoided as much as possible. IF you were allowed to ground your club in the bunker you could sweep away sand on your takeaway and give yourself a better lie.
If they wanted to solve all of this they could have clearly marked the small bunkers with paint or something. However at the end of the day it was still DJ's and his caddies fault. He could have easily gone over and asked the guy if he was in a bunker. TBH it did look like more dust than sand when he hit his ball and Ive been to several PGA tour events and theres always trampled down grass like that in the gallery and its almost always dusty.
On August 16 2010 13:59 micronesia wrote: Answer: he should have called over an official to take a close look at his lie if he wasn't going to play it as though it was a bunker... the players were warned that this was a characteristic of the course.
Sucks for him.
Yes they were warned, point for you. My arguement is that not only the rule is mind-boggling stupid but also, it took them unitl after he finished his round to say "Hey, you broke the rules. We gotta assess you a penalty." Add that to the fact that his lie was in something that didn't even resemble a bunker and I think that he was robbed.
A rules official might have been able to remind him this was a bunker as he got close to that ball. That would have been a big help, but it didn't happen. Next would be his caddie. His caddie obviously didn't study the rules sheet very well either.
DJ and his caddie seem a strange match (Redneck Southern boy and California surf bum/stoner). Remember DJ's shot to 18 at Pebble on Sat. "Dude, that looks good". And the tee shot on Sunday at Pebble after the triple on 2? His caddy seems to be out to lunch here in Wisconsin too.
Sucks, but damn that German kid made some big putts coming down the stretch.
And wtf was Bubba Watson thinking there in playoff on 18? Hit to front right of green. Love how all the commentators except for Nick Faldo disagreed with the winner just chipping out and playing for 5 from OMG 190 yards.. If you're gonna lay up .. LAY UP! The guy just stiffed it on 17 from 220 into the wind. I think he can hit a huge 18th green with a 7 iron... which he did. That was just as bizarre hearing the commentators on that one.
Lesson learned when playing from a course that has over 1000 bunkers (some of which are less than 3' in diameter) and you're ball is sitting in sand.. don't ground your club. In fact in questionable lies you should never ground your club. Ball might move then you're penalized.
That one got away that's for sure. Sucks big time and is gonna hurt for a long time. At least it wasn't some "judgement" or "stupid" call.
I don't know about you guys, but I knew from the start that was a bunker. I even told my Dad in an outraged tone "wow he just grounded the club in a trap how can he do that hes professional golfer he shouldn't be making those mistakes." Low and behold he gets the penalization.
At home it was easy for us to tell he was in a bunker because the animated flyover that shows the flight of the ball etc put him right in the middle of one lol. Ok so the bunker didn't look anything like it did in the animation, but it indeed was one... at one time at least ha ha.
And I don't know if you noticed but in the playoff, the gallery was now NOT standing in that bunker. There was a "hole" in the gallery from the overhead blimp footage. Maybe the officials had something to do with that. ... Doubt that will ever happen again.
EPT
