Tag: Golf rules

Patrick Reed on Farmers Insurance Open controversy: ‘The rules officials said we did it absolutely perfectly’

“When all comes push and shove we felt like we did the right thing and the rules officials said we did absolutely perfectly.”

Patrick Reed’s controversial move on the 10th hole at the Farmers Insurance Open to move his ball before consulting with a PGA Tour official had the sports world talking on Saturday.

Here is what Reed said to CBS Sports’ Amanda Balionis after his round:

REED: So the first thing we do is when we don’t see it bounce in the group doesn’t see a bounce, you ask the volunteer whoever’s closest to that golf ball where it was and you know the volunteer said no the ball did not bounce and therefore I, when that happened, I looked at my groups those guys she didn’t see a bounce either so I’m gonna mark this ball and you know see if it’s embedded and you know, once I marked it the first thing I wanted to do was make sure got the ball out of my hand because you know, if you don’t want to clean it or anything because you don’t know if it’s embedded yet and when I put my finger down there, and I felt like it has broken ground, first thing you do is you call rules official because you know, you want the rules official to come over to make sure that it is.

When the rules official came over said it yes, no this … this ball has broken the plane and with no one seeing the ball bounce and that’s what we all saw and so because of that, you know, the rules official’s like well since no one else is seen it bounce, of seven people, therefore you get free drop and free relief and at that point, you know, we just go with what the rules officials said and also with what the volunteers and what we see because that’s one of those things I will out there, we can’t see everything and when that happens, you know, you have to go by with what the volunteers say with what the rules officials say and, you know, when all comes push and shove we felt like we did the right thing and the rules officials said we did it absolutely perfectly and with that being said you know we moved on just continue playing.

BALIONIS: Hindsight’s 20-20. If you had to go back do you pick up the ball before the rules official is there?

REED: Yes, because you sit there and when you have three players including yourself three caddies and a volunteer that’s within five yards of that golf ball and no one says it bounced, you’re gonna mark it in check see if the ball’s embedded, you know, that’s what every player does if the ball if no one sees a bounce they see that.

You know looks like it’s broken the plane, the ground you mark the ball and you pick it up first and then when you see that is embedded that’s when you always call rules official over no matter what you’re doing to take the drop to make sure you’re doing the drop correctly.

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R&A clears Lexi Thompson of rules violation at Royal Troon

Lexi Thompson was cleared of a rules violation on the 16th hole at Royal Troon during the first round of the Women’s British Open.

The R&A has released a statement regarding Lexi Thompson’s actions on the 16th hole in the first round of the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon. As Thompson set up to hit her second shot on the par 5, she used her club to poke at a tuft of grass situated behind her ball.

The R&A looked into the incident, which was televised on Thursday, and released the following statement:

Yesterday, as part of its normal TV review procedures, The R&A viewed Lexi Thompson’s actions prior to playing her second shot at the 16th hole in round one of the AIG Women’s Open. 

Following a discussion between Chief Referee David Rickman and the player prior to her signing her scorecard it was determined that, although the player had moved a growing natural object behind her ball, it had returned to its original position. 

Therefore, the lie of the ball was not improved and there was no breach of Rule 8.1.

Thompson went on to birdie the 16th hole, her only birdie in an opening round of 78.

 

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Rules of golf: 10 biggest controversies of the decade

Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, and Lexi Thompson were all engulfed in some of the decade’s biggest Rules of Golf controversies.

There was no shortage of options for making this list.

Plenty of first-name only star power — Phil, Tiger, DJ and Lexi — were among the biggest offenders.

That’s because the Rules of Golf are complicated, and despite revisions and clarification and an overhaul that went into effect in 2019, there are still regular occurrences where the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime plus plenty of room for ambiguity.

Here are the 10 biggest Rules controversies that sparked debate in this decade:

10. Haotong Li, 2019 Dubai Desert Classic

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - JANUARY 27: Haotong Li of China takes his tee shot on hole one during Day Four of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on January 27, 2019 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
Haotong Li at the 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

In the final round, Haotong Li canned a birdie putt on the 18th hole to apparently finish in third place. But as ESPN’s Lee Corso would say, not so fast, my friends. Li’s caddie violated one of the new Rules of Golf that went into effect in 2019 – Rule 10.2b – “once the player begins taking a stance for the stroke, and until the stroke is made, the player’s caddie must not deliberately stand on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball for any reason.” The two-stroke change dropped Li to a tie for 12th place and cost him the equivalent of about $100,000.

As a result of this ruling and a similarly harsh interpretation of the Rule against Denny McCarthy at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February, a clarification was released addressing issues with the Rule. In short, it clarified what it meant to “deliberately” stand behind the player and provided more guidance for when a player actually has “begun taking his or her stance.”

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