Archaic rules leave professional golfers in the rough

PROFESSIONAL golf has always been a game governed by the highest standards of sportsmanship. Players calling penalties on themselves for what seem even petty rule offences are par for the course (if you pardon the pun) while several competitors in recent big tournaments have either been disqualified or suffered critical two-shot penalties for minor infringements.

Remember the US PGA last August, the final golfing Major of 2010? American Dustin Johnson stood on the final tee at Whistling Straits needing only a par to clinch victory only to become a victim of the strictest rule book in sport. His tee shot sailed right of the fairway and into the gallery on a course which contained a whopping 1,200 bunkers.

Johnson ended up in one of them on the 18th, but didn’t know it. Trampled by fans walking the grounds throughout the tournament, the American assumed that his ball had settled on a worn-out area of land and he grounded his club as he prepared to take his second shot. Johnson said afterwards that it never crossed his mind that he was standing in a bunker and TV images of the incident underlined why he came to that conclusion – it didn’t look like his ball was in a sand trap.

As it transpired, Johnson went on to make, what he thought, was a bogey at the last which would have resulted in a three-way play-off with Germany’s Martin Kaymer and fellow US tour member, Bubba Watson. However, American tour officials quickly informed Johnson that he was being issued with a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in the bunker on the 18th which turned his bogey into a triple bogey.As a consequence, instead

of Johnson preparing for a play-off and the chance to win his first Major, he was relegated to a tie for fifth. It was a cruel penalty for what was an innocent mistake. Understandably, he was distraught after the news, especially as the 26-year-old had carried a three shot lead into the final of the US Open at Pebble Beach back in June only to end up shooting a disastrous 11 over 82 to plunge down the field.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and a US tour event in Hawaii where the talented Columbian player Camilo Vilegas was disqualified for moving a divot out of the way of his rolling ball. How could his tournament come to an end for something so trivial, but professional golfers continue to be policed by an ancient rule book which is doing the modern game a disservice. High definition television coverage and slow motion replays are picking up the tiniest of ball movements with the result that players are suffering penalties for infringements that they didn’t even know they had committed.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.