[golow]

Those USGA zealots could have made partial amends by NOT assessing the penalty after the match was over, but they didn’t even have the sense to do that.
When the idiots were talking to Brandel and crew after the match, idiot #2 used the term “impact” to describe the very light grounding of Dustin’s putter during his practice stroke. He was clearly trying to over exaggerate in an effort to justify the nonsense.
When Brandel countered that he had never in his life seen a ball move due to a player doing what Dustin had done during his practice stroke, neither of the idiots had a response. At least at that point they had the sense to not continue to embarrass themselves.

[outlaw]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

PGA officials have been using replay to call penalties for a couple of years now. It is simply a matter of the replay providing information that the on site official did not have at the time of the original call. Secondly, no one called him a liar. They simply did not agree with his assessment that nothing he did could have caused the ball to move. I am on the side that his final grounding of the club beside the ball caused the movement - or more likely his lifting of the club in a slightly backward motion move the grass just enough. Contact with the ball is not required to cause movement.

It is a shame that this was handled so poorly. The call should have been made as soon as the replay was reviewed, rather than creating a dark cloud.

Never the less, it was great to see him finally win.

Good and reasonable assessment Nowadays people seem to like to be outraged or completely upset by the slightest things.

[Jima64]

Maybe the ball could no longer defy gravity on the sloping green. But heck golf officials know what is right.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Glad DJ won; finally gets the "but he's never won a major" moniker off his back. Those two USGA officials on the interview were a couple of numnuts; hope there is some fallout from that decision.

[Mikeod]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

PGA officials have been using replay to call penalties for a couple of years now. It is simply a matter of the replay providing information that the on site official did not have at the time of the original call. Secondly, no one called him a liar. They simply did not agree with his assessment that nothing he did could have caused the ball to move. I am on the side that his final grounding of the club beside the ball caused the movement - or more likely his lifting of the club in a slightly backward motion move the grass just enough. Contact with the ball is not required to cause movement.

It is a shame that this was handled so poorly. The call should have been made as soon as the replay was reviewed, rather than creating a dark cloud.

Never the less, it was great to see him finally win.

The difference, to me, is that the PGA Tour uses video to see if a violation occurred when informed after the fact that one may have occurred. In this case, the USGA had its rules expert {?} at the scene and got info from Dustin and Westwood and ruled no infraction had happened. That should be the end of it. Otherwise, why have an official walking with group?

Also, there was the other player who actually placed his putter behind the ball and it shifted to the side slightly. That was ruled as no violation. Why the different rationales?

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by Mikeod

The difference, to me, is that the PGA Tour uses video to see if a violation occurred when informed after the fact that one may have occurred. In this case, the USGA had its rules expert {?} at the scene and got info from Dustin and Westwood and ruled no infraction had happened. That should be the end of it. Otherwise, why have an official walking with group?

Also, there was the other player who actually placed his putter behind the ball and it shifted to the side slightly. That was ruled as no violation. Why the different rationales?

If you are refering to Lowry, he did indeed take a stroke for the violation. And had to replace his ball back to the original position before putting.

I just don't get why everyone is so upset by this. Golf has caught up to other sports in the use of replay to confirm penalties - a proven improvement in officiating.

[Mikeod]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

If you are refering to Lowry, he did indeed take a stroke for the violation. And had to replace his ball back to the original position before putting.

I just don't get why everyone is so upset by this. Golf has caught up to other sports in the use of replay to confirm penalties - a proven improvement in officiating.

Nope, not talking about Lowry. There was another player who addressed his ball and noted that the alignment line shifted to the right. He called in an official and explained what had happened. The official determined the player did not cause the ball to move and there was no penalty. The situation was extremely similar to Dustin's.

Other sports use replay because of the speed of the game, think football, baseball, and hockey. And the tendency of players to get away with what they can. The fact that golfers on tour more often than not call penalties on themselves makes it different. I'm not naive enough to think that there aren't some occasions that "slip" by, but the tour is self-policing in that a pro won't get away with it for long before another player turns him/her in.

As I said, my real beef is that two situations, remarkably similar, were treated very differently even though both were caught on camera, and both had a USGA official right on the spot that made a ruling. That should have been the end of it. Just like it was for Ernie Els at an Open at Oakmont and the movable/immovable TV vehicle.

[JGVillages]

Originally Posted by outlaw

I only saw the one video that I assumed was what the officials looked at. It did seem to me that DJ's club was perilously close to the ball. If fact, based on the video I saw, it would be impossible, at least to me, to tell if his club did or did not touch the ball. The only mistake the officials made, imho, was to not immediately assess a penalty stroke after viewing the video. It used to be that if you grounded your club, and then the ball moved, you were assessed a penalty stroke (if I remember correctly). It didn't matter what caused the ball to move. I could be wrong about this, but I think I read that Jack Nicklaus did not ground his putter at address for this very reason. Let me know if I am wrong about the rules or Jack.

He said he did not cause the ball to move. End of story! If the USGA takes the "honor factor" out of golf the players will respond accordingly. Over 25 years of the Long Anchored Putter, now is outlawed. The non-adequate control of the modern golf ball and technology have made many great courses too short to be competitive, and now a disorientated rules committee screws up the biggest USGA event of the year. I said adios to the USGA over the putter and ball issue years ago and this just confirms my actions.