Imagine you’re watching a baseball game. Let’s say it’s around the seventh inning or so, and the umpires suddenly call a timeout and gather in discussion off to the side of the field. A few minutes later it’s announced that back in the fourth inning there was a balk that the umpires missed and the penalty needs to be enforced. So now, the runners on second and third jam your pitcher got out of unscathed earlier is not to be. The other team is awarded the run they would have had due to the runner on third base, and now it’s a whole new ball game. Does this sound ridiculous? Absolutely. Now imagine how much more ridiculous it would sound if the umpires themselves had nothing to do with it. Rather, someone watching the game on TV called it in.
As ridiculous as it sounds, we all know what happened with Tiger at The Masters. But did you know it happened again this weekend? That’s right, this time to Sergio Garcia. Apparently, Sergio marked his ball on the green, but didn’t put it back exactly from where he picked it up. And once again, it took someone watching on TV to call a penalty. OK, once is a fluke. But twice in three weeks? This makes me wonder a few things:
1. If I was to notice a rules violation, who the heck would I call? I get that in the Tiger incident, the caller was a former rules official, so he probably had a direct line to the guys at the tournament. But just some average, everyday TV viewer…I wouldn’t know where to start! Do I call the network? Do I call the course? And who would I even ask for? What would I say? “Hi, my name is Stinky Golfer Chris and I’d like to report a rules violation I just saw on TV.” Yeah, because that sounds legit.
2. If it’s taking television viewers to call in after catching violations, how much are the officials missing that we (and they) don’t know about? In my opinion, these violations were pretty blatant. Seriously, you mean to tell me Tiger didn’t know he couldn’t drop his ball three or four feet away from his original spot? Or Sergio didn’t realize he was putting his ball in a different place than where he marked it? C’mon now. Yet, no one on the course caught these at the time?
3. If they are legitimate mistakes made by the players, and they are completely unaware, how can you penalize them after the fact? I would think a two-stroke penalty after the fact hurts more because it would affect the decisions the player would make had they known at the time. My feeling is that once the player takes his next stroke, it’s too late. The officials should have caught it then.
4. How does this happen in the first place? If I’m playing with my buddies, we all notice if someone obviously puts their ball where it doesn’t belong? We don’t call each other on it, but it’s noticeable. If we see it, how don’t the people who are paid to? What exactly are the officials looking at? This isn’t a fast paced game that’s hard to keep up with. We’re not talking an NBA game here. We’re talking golf.
So two incidents in three weeks. Is it just a fluke? Or is it going to become a glaring flaw in the way golf tournaments are monitored and officiated. I’d like to think it’s a fluke. I mean, mistakes happen. It could be just a couple of errors occurring close together. But either way, after two quick incidents, it may be time for the PGA to step in to try and prevent a third.
Swing ’til you’re happy!