Imagine you’re watching a baseball game.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A few minutes later\u00a0it’s announced that back in the fourth inning there was a balk that the umpires missed and the penalty needs to be enforced.\u00a0 So now, the runners on second and third jam your pitcher got out of unscathed earlier is not to be.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Does this sound ridiculous?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 Now imagine how much more ridiculous it would sound if the umpires themselves had nothing to do with it.\u00a0 Rather, someone watching the game on TV called\u00a0it in.<\/p>\n
As ridiculous as it sounds, we all know what happened with Tiger at The Masters.\u00a0 But did you know it happened again this weekend?\u00a0 That’s right, this time to Sergio Garcia.\u00a0 Apparently, Sergio marked his ball on the green, but didn’t put it back exactly from where he picked it up.\u00a0 And once again, it took someone watching\u00a0on TV to call a penalty. OK, once is a fluke.\u00a0 But twice in three weeks?\u00a0 This makes me wonder a few things:<\/p>\n
1. If I was to notice a rules violation, who the heck would I call?\u00a0 I get that in the Tiger incident, the caller was a former rules official, so he probably had a direct line to the\u00a0guys at the tournament.\u00a0 But just some average, everyday TV viewer…I wouldn’t know where to start!\u00a0 Do I call the network?\u00a0 Do I call the course?\u00a0 And who would I even ask for?\u00a0 What would I say?\u00a0\u00a0“Hi, my name is Stinky Golfer Chris and I’d like to report a\u00a0rules violation I just saw on TV.”\u00a0 Yeah, because that sounds legit.<\/p>\n
2. If it’s taking television viewers to call in\u00a0after catching violations,\u00a0how much are the officials missing that we (and they) don’t know about?\u00a0 In my opinion, these violations\u00a0were pretty blatant.\u00a0 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?\u00a0 Or Sergio didn’t realize he was putting his ball in a different place than where he marked it?\u00a0 C’mon now.\u00a0 Yet, no one on the course caught these at the time?<\/p>\n
3. If they are legitimate mistakes made by the players, and they are completely unaware, how can you penalize them after the fact?\u00a0 I would think a two-stroke penalty after the fact\u00a0hurts more because it would affect the decisions the player would make had they known at the time.\u00a0 My feeling is that once the player takes his next stroke, it’s too late.\u00a0 The officials should have caught it then.<\/p>\n
4. How does this happen in the first place?\u00a0 If I’m playing with my buddies, we all notice if someone obviously puts their ball where it doesn’t belong?\u00a0 We don’t call each other on it, but it’s noticeable.\u00a0 If we see it, how don’t the people who are paid to?\u00a0 What exactly are the officials looking at?\u00a0 This isn’t\u00a0a fast paced game that’s hard to keep up with.\u00a0 We’re not talking an NBA game here.\u00a0 We’re talking golf.<\/p>\n
So two incidents in three weeks.\u00a0 Is it just a fluke?\u00a0\u00a0Or is it going to become a glaring flaw in the way golf tournaments are monitored and officiated.\u00a0 I’d like to think it’s a fluke.\u00a0 I mean, mistakes happen.\u00a0 It could be just\u00a0a couple of errors occurring close together.\u00a0 But\u00a0 either way, after two quick incidents, it may be time for the PGA to step in\u00a0to try and prevent a third.<\/p>\n
Swing ’til you’re happy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imagine you’re watching a baseball game.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A few minutes later\u00a0it’s announced that back in the fourth inning there was a balk that the umpires missed and the penalty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1975],"tags":[216,2151,22,19,1981,88,1983,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-2175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-the-pro-tours","7":"tag-baseball","8":"tag-golf-official","9":"tag-golf-stinks","10":"tag-golfstinks","11":"tag-pga-2","12":"tag-sergio-garcia","13":"tag-the-masters-2","14":"tag-tiger-woods","15":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n