[txfan]

Yes, I agree with the penalty. The only problem with it is he wasn't stopped from hitting the shot quickly enough to incur only a one-shot penalty.

These guys get a lot of benefits that we wouldn't get:
If they hit it into the grandstands, free drop with no penalty. Us? No grandstands. Play it down.
If they hit behind the grandstands, free drop with no penalty. Us? What grandstands? Play it down.
When they hit it off course in the deep weeds, etc., there are spotters who mark the location, so the player doesn't lose his/her ball. Us? Good luck finding any ball we hit into that stuff without knowing how far downrange it went, or how far off course it went.

Especially on a Links course, there are plenty of visual cues for the pros, like grandstands, camera towers, crowds, that help in sight lines. Us? An empty field with what may look like a sliver of mown area to hit toward.

They have caddies. Us? Maybe sometimes.

Golf is the one sport with a unique honor system to call penalties on oneself. The scrutiny of the camera angles is the only way to protect the integrity of the game. If he'd been granted immunity from that penalty, the rest of the field would've questioned the ruling relative to their own positions on the leaderboard.

Did the ball movement make a difference in his shot? No. Was the integrity of the game of Golf protected, yes.