Lexi Thompson Assessed 4 Stroke Penalty, Loses Championship in Playoff!
 

Lexi Thompson was informed that she received a four stroke penalty as she walked off the 12th hole on Sunday at the ANA Inspiration.

An email was received by LPGA officials from a viewer about a possible rules infraction during the third round.

TONY'S LPGA REPORT: Lexi Thompson Receives 4 stroke Penalty, Loses Championship by 1 Stroke in Playoff

TV viewer and instant replay, this is really stupid. Not good for the sport!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a viewer will call in tomorrow about an incomplete pass in the super bowl and NE didn't really win. Or maybe they'll spot a hit that was really foul in the World Series and the Cubs are still on a 111 year dry spell. Oh, wait, these sports don't ALLOW that, so why does golf?????? How much time and money do the pro tours waste on evaluating these "call ins"??? How long before the number of these call explodes as fans try to influence the outcome to benefit their favorite player? And if officials want to use videotape to assess penalties (which is really the responsibility of the individual player), they should have a camera on every player, every shot, every round since TV coverage is skewed to show only the leaders and therefore inherently inequitable.

In my opinion, the video clearly shows that she cheated by moving the ball out of a hole, which was probably a spike mark. The player is not allowed to repair spike marks, or to move the ball from its original location. Regardless of how the violation was detected, I think the ruling was correct. Unlike other sports, golfers are supposed to enforce their own violations.

So why listen to television viewers?

Seems to me that they follow the people who have a good chance of winning the money involved in the Tournament which would mean that they have a number of cameras going on the leader board players at one time. The technicians, staff, director, etc running the televising of the golfing see quite a bit more than the television audience. All these people could look out for infractions made by the players whether or no someone calls them in or not. There must be a lot of fans who call in just for the attention and others who are more serious about the golf being played.

I honestly don't think that she did it intentionally. If you look at the video you can see that her hand obscures here view of the ball. It's pretty much impossible to call a penalty on yourself for a violation that you are unaware you committed.

I agree that the rule must be applied equally to all competitors, but I don't think that the governing bodies of these competitions should act upon phone calls, or e-mails from viewers to look at previous rules violations unless it is clear that the action was done on purpose and/or it affects the players score.

One of the big problems with this is that the players who are on television the most are the most likely to be caught by this things. There might have been players that barely made the cut that had some minuscule rules violation in the first round that never got picked up because they weren't on television and then went on to make the cut and finish high up in the tournament.

It's not that it's unfair application of the rules, it's unfair monitoring of players.

Gerina Piller shot 71-75 to make the cut on the number. She then shot 74-66 to finish 35T and win $16,000. How do we know that she didn't miss mark her ball or accidentally touch the sand in a bunker without noticing in the first or second round. We don't know because she wasn't on television during those rounds. If something like that had been caught on television, it might have allowed another player to make the cut. Is that fair to the field?

If you're going to have television rules making then you need to have a close up camera on every player during every shot in the tournament and someone to sit and view everyone play.

Hopefully, when the new rules come out something will be done about this. Until then, unless it's a flagrant, intentional violation that definitely affected the players score, television viewer notifications should be ignored.

Another possibility is to not allowed any penalties, with the exception of signing an incorrect scorecard and penalties that can be shown to be flagrant and intentional, to be applied once a round is completed or once the next round has been begun.

How the violation was detected doesn't change the fact that she violated the rules, and it is probably not the first time. You don't move the ball out of a hole to improve your lie by accident. The normal way to replace a marked ball is to stand directly behind the ball facing the hole, not sideways the way she did it. If the ball is in a spike mark, you know it, and you have to putt it from the spike mark. You cannot move it. I think she should be more concerned about her reputation, and just acknowledge that the penalty was correct.

I don't think that "cheated" is an appropriate term here. To me. "cheated" implies that the player did something intentional to gain an advantage.

Do you think that Roberto DeVinsenzo cheated when the signed an incorrect scorecard? Do you think that Dustin Johnson cheated when he touched the ground in a poorly defined bunker?

Do you think that a player that accidentally kicks his ball while searching for it in long rough is cheating?

Cheating implies intent and no one is saying that Lexi Thompson intentionally tried to create an advantage.

AS I said, if you look at the video you can see that her hand obscures the ball and the marker when she replaced it. We don't know if the ball was in a hole or not and we have no way of knowing whether she did it intentionally. Again, no one from the LPGA, USGA or the tournament is accusing her of cheating. You have to give the player the benefit of the doubt in these case.


Probably not the first time? You can't possibly be serious. You have absolutely no knowledge that she has ever done anything like this before. Why would you make such a ludicrous accusatory statement?

After reviewing the play, I can see how her hand would have obstructed her view of the ball in relation to the coin but I could not see a pitch or ball mark at the ball placement. Why is golf the only sport I can sit in my underwear, drink PBR or take a toke, and armchair referee the game from my living room? Just asking!

I can understand to a certain degree that the tournament committee might look at evidence from any source. We have a game that is self governing. We trust that all of the players will do the right thing. We also don't have a referee with every player looking at every swing and every movement like we do in other sports. Sometimes things happen intentionally or otherwise that are not seen, but should be dealt with.

Other sports have officials looking closely at every play.

But when a violation is so minor, can't be shown to be intentional and did not affect the players score, the evidence should be ignored. Unfortunately, under the current rules the officials have no choice but to enforce the rules as they are written.

Ok, I will agree that accusing her of cheating may be a bit strong, but I'm sure that some people who have played competitive sports will see it that way. However, I really think that her reputation with the public is a bigger issue than this one tournament. The video clearly shows that she violated the rule and she should own up to it, and be more careful in the future when marking her ball.

Got it. So it must be OK to run an illegal wiretap on your cell phone to see if you're cheating on your spouse or income tax. After all, HOW it was detected doesn't matter.

I do see a small hole or mark on the video. But, what is really interesting on the video is that she picks up the ball and immediately replaces it without cleaning it or lining up the ball markings with the hole. These are the typical reasons why a player will mark the ball in the first place. So, it begs the question, why did she even mark the ball if she were not trying to improve her lie?