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.

“onerous” for someone to keep score for a value around 70? I know our younger generation can’t read or write at a grade school level, but if you can’t add 18 scores up to a value of 70 or 80, then you really have a problem.

I recall Spieth running up the stairs quickly as soon as his group finished the 18th...he may have been upset or needed a restroom urgently. :eek:

Has it worked?

Now that's funny!

Clothing
 

Where in the rule book does it mention clothes you cannot wear???? Its the elitest mentally at stuffy golf clubs. They dont want golfers looking like working class smucks.