Spieth disqualified for an incorrect scorecard
 

Why in today's world, with every group having a scorer, the camera men watching every hole, with web sites posting the scores, do the golfers themselves have to sign a card for their score?

So evidently they had the correct score from the scorer, so that they can compare the players' signed card against the scorers tally. . . and disqualify him. Otherwise, how would they know so quickly?

Seems like the old fashioned pre television, pre media blitz everywhere, rule that the traditionalists don't want to change, is really out of date. The rule about signing for yours and your opponents card is left over from the very old days when golfers went out alone, and the sport had to impose such rules to prevent dishonesty amongst the players.

That scenario doesn't exist in today's world, so maybe the rules of PGA tournaments need to be updated to the scorer keeping the score, so the players can focus on playing and not paperwork!

paperwork sucks

I don't know about the scorer, but I don't think every round has a camera or someone updating a website. I like the rule where you have to sign the scorecard. It keeps the players honest. There are cheaters on the pro tour.

I still think that Lexi Thompson should have been expelled from the ladies tour for cheating in the 2017 ANA tournament. There is no question that she was or is a cheater.

If you take the paperwork away, and use an official scorer the player can't cheat. . obviously I wasn't clear in my rant.

back to my original point, most all other sports, there are official scorers. . golf's signing your own scorecard is a century old holdover

Golf is a game of tradition and honor............glad these items continue.

:thumbup:

I don't disagree with your rant. But, most other sports don't require honesty, like golf does. Also, in the first 2 rounds of a tournament, there may be 70 groups of 3 players, so you would need a lot of scorers to watch every shot.

".... what a stupid I am".

".... I lose my brain".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akrz447IG4A

///

Recent generations are loathe to take responsibility for anything.

Do you really think they should have to add up their score themselves and sign their name?

.... sounds a little onerous to me.

Most games of golf do not have someone to keep the score.
What makes golf so good, is the personal honesty of the game.
Lose that, and the game loses all its integrity.
Plus, keep collared shirts, and ban denim! :icon_wink:

tradition and honor. the tradition of the player who scores a hole in one, has to buy the drinks. absolutely absurd. it should be the other way around, as to ease the financial burden on the hole in one player .........

I agree. That is why, on a par 3, I always aim a little to the left or right of the hole to avoid making a hole-in-one.

Absolutelyl

I personally know professional athletes and olympic level athletes who know all the rules, and also know how to push into the grey area between what's allowed and what will be called as "cheating." That's why refs, umps, officials, and video replay now exist. . . Players shouldn't be trusted with following the rules, and to protect the players from others who cheat, or human officiating.

There is cheating from adding the total score, and there is cheating at the execution in the game. I think people can confuse the two. Cheating in execution during the competition is about what the rules are for. That is where the athlete can make or break a shot, like Lexi T did and Tiger W did the same at a master's tournament, caught by the cameraman and replay, the grey area between the rules and people actually calling foul. That's why there are rules officials during tournaments to protect the players from themselves, and I am proposing the same idea with paperwork. . . there are now limits to people from home watching calling in fouls in pga tournaments, which did happen and players got caught in execution . . . that doesn't happen in any other sport either, being officiated by the watching public

Paperwork should not be part of the player's responsibility any more. I have worked at a PGA tournament, there are plenty of people available to able to be a scorer, . . . just like there are exams and qualifications to be umps and referees, there can be the same for PGA on field scorers doing paperwork. I met retired golf groupies who travel in RVs from tournament to tournament around the country for the travel and the free meals and watching what they love.

its just a centuries old process held over by traditionalists.

still try to change my mind

I have found that aiming right at the hole prevents me from making holes-in-one ;-)

Special medical exemption for Jon Daly!

Jordan whines after every shot to his caddy. if I were in his group, I would have to tell him to stop your whining after every shot......I dont know how his caddy continues to let him cry after each shot

I do. His caddy probably gets 10% when he wins.

yes. also collared shirts on the driving ranges also....and especially the women, who seem to get a break at the range with your tank tops on, showing off your gross tats.....ladies, if your are overweight, and think your tats are attractive, they are not.....gross

Well if want tradition play in Sundays best, suit with tie. And walk course.

Playing in our Club Championship, 6 years ago. Close enough?

Not a tradition.

Absolutely.

As far as I know, the only sport in which you call a penalty on yourself.

Very cool.

"On the face of it, it runs counter to reason — executing a heroic shot, only to be slapped with a humungous bar bill. Yet evidence suggests that the practice dates back at least 100 years; as early as 1918, newspaper articles refer to the sale of hole-in-one insurance."

The Etiquetteist: Do I really have to buy drinks after a hole-in-one?

I do, but undo my collar stud when Temperature is over 90 degrees.

yes it is

WHAT a stud!

Caddy is the employee what would you have him do?

That is why my score is always so high

Sorry but I disagree. I think every player should know their score. The golfer is trying to get a low score, he needs to know if he’s succeeding.

I guess you agree that Jordan whines to him all day. the caddy cant do anything but stand there and give him the dumb look....

In golf, an opposing player keeps the scorecard for a player, thereby vouching for the score. The player then can request the card be corrected. The players do not add up the score. The addition is done by the tournament committee.

That's true. In this case, I believe the error was actually made by Speiths playing partner Tom Kim. He recorded a 3 on #4 when Speith actually made bogey. As I understand it, Spieth was a little hot after finishing with a 40 on the back nine, signed the card without thoroughly checking it, and left the scoring area before the committee validated the card. I'm not certain, but I think they validate it with the groups walking scorers electronic record. I believe the player is responsible for the addition, not the committee; they just validate.

Bottom line.............you sign it, you own it.

This is why I don’t keep score and the Beer tastes better after playing.

That happens once in a while!

Dont know the folks involved personally, but caddy is an employee.

I worked the Arnold Palmer Invitational for five years and here's what I have experienced working with ShotLink at green #4 for four of those five years. Every group has a "walking scorer" who walks with that group for the entire round. He or she has a tablet on which he enters scores which are instantly transmitted to the scoring truck and from there to the media, etc. Each group also has someone carrying a sign telling the public each player's score relative to par. I can't count how many times at the conclusion of a hole the "official scorer" and the sign carrier have a debate about who scored what, to the point they often have to have a discussion with the player to get it straight. As a player I would WANT to keep my own score AND my opponent's score to make sure the "official score" was accurate.

One thing that helps now is that ShotLink does record every shot, even if it's not televised. More than once we had to radio the ShotLink truck to help us find a ball which was buried in deep rough. And they could do it by tracking the ball's path to it's general landing area.

If Spieth had checked his card against his opponents and there was a dispute over a hole ShotLink could have gone back and verified each shot on that hole. But they don't do that unless there is a dispute that can't be resolved. And that rarely happens. Spieth just didn't check the cards to note the discrepancy.

The Player is not responsible for the "addition", per USGA Rules 3.3 (b)(4)

(https://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and...rule&rulenum=3)

The PGA Tour has a ton of "local rules" & Conditions of Play, but I doubt there's anything in them, that requires the player to total his score or penalizes him for bad math skills (as someone mentioned earlier in the thread).

As a former scorer, this is what happens. Your playing partner is your official scorer and vice-versa. At the bottom of each score card is a perforated strip for me(your official scorer) to score FOR you, and on your card, you (my official scorer) to score FOR me. The scorer is a check for the scores. She/he is not the official scorer.
Once the round is done and all are in the scorers tent/building, the players exchange the perforated strips with their scores on it and compare their official score (from their playing partner) to the score that they wrote on their card. They then ask the scorer to read the scores he/she recorded. That’s how it’s done.
The only way I think Spieth could’ve been DQ’d is if he signed the card before the scorer read his scores. Not smart.
I actually had a situation at the Western Open on Chicago where I caught the player in a wrong score. I said he had a 4, he had written down a 5. I reconstructed the hole for him (where his ball was on the hole) and his partner said “she’s right”. Saved him from being DQ’d.

Absolutely correct. If Spieth had not left the "scoring area" it could have been corrected. The tragedy here is that the "scoring area" was the women's locker room, Spieth had gone 50 feet away to the men's locker room. But I suppose rules are rules. Perhaps it would be better to define the "scoring area" as the entire clubhouse and any area within 100 feet of it.