Joey's Golf Bag

On Sunday, I watched most of the final round of Annika lapping the field at the Samsung tournament. Since I don’t have the Golf Channel, I didn’t see the end of the tournament and found out much later that night that Michelle Wie got DQ-ed for an incident on Saturday. What nonsense is this? I don’t believe for a second that Michelle meant to cheat, and without malice, there should be no disqualification.

Problems with the rules of golf:

1. The reporter didn’t bother to report the improper drop to anyone until the next day after the tournament was all but over. He was standing six feet away. Why not just point out then that she looked a bit closer to the hole?
2. Doesn’t anyone but engineers understand “margin of error”? The distance was walked off twice for distance, and was found “inconclusive”. A string was then used to measure the distance and found to be 12-18″ closer to the hole. The rules need a margin; people aren’t perfect.
3. She signed an incorrect scorecard. Just what the heck is wrong with correcting it after the fact? It’s not like the checks have been cashed already.

Here’s what should happen for PGA / LPGA tournaments to get rid of ridiculous DQs like this one.

1. There should be an “official scorer” with each group keeping score. The players can verify the score at the end of the round.
2. There should be a rules official with each group to verify that the rules of golf are followed and to immediately assess any penalties when they happen.
3. Corrections to the scorecard for penalties before the end of the round should be allowed. The round is final once the last scorecard is turned in by the official scorer at the end of the round. No more bystander judges.

Pro golf needs to get rid of these antiquated rules that have player serve as their own judge and jury. Rules like the ones above are fine for small tournaments that don’t have the means to provide official scorers and rules officials, but the PGA and LPGA have no excuse.