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Absurd

SWC75

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So Dustin Johnson's ball moves while he's taking a practice swing. There's an issue of whether he grounded his club, (arugggh! not again) and whether he caused the ball to move. An official on the scene rules he did not ground his club or cause the ball to move. Dustin later takes a two stroke lead with 8 holes to go. Then he is informed that they are "taking another look at it" but do not have a ruling yet. Then they decide they will figure it out "after the round"- the final round of the US Open!

The man has the right to know where he stands. it will impact his strategy and emotional state as he tries to finally win his first ever major tournament. In any other sport this would be figured out before play was allowed to continue and if play did continue, they would not go back and make a retroactive ruling. That's the way it should be done.
 
I agree. I don't think he caused the ball to move but they seem to think they did. It does no good to discuss the matter later - make the ruling and go on.
 
People are thinking of equivalents. How about this one: In the fourth quarter of tonight's game the NBA announces that they think LeBron James might have committed a foul in the second quarter and they'll decide if he did after the game.

:rolleyes::confused::mad::noidea::crazy:
 
I reiterate my question: if a player can pick his ball up and put it back down, how does the ball moving in that situation matter?

Did he gain a strategical advantage by this movement?

And is it up to Dustin to prove that something else made it move or is it up to the USGA to prove that it moved because of Dustin?
 
Not going to argue the ruling. Many people when arguing it is a bad call sometimes don't fully understand the interpretation of various golf rules (and I include in that group, even as a big golf fan)

But the major issue is not calling the penalty. But the issue is not making the call immediately. If you know how you are going to rule, give him the penalty and move on. Leaving it hanging is silly.

Thankfully DJ Should win this outright by at least 2 strokes so it won't matter in the end.
 
Well, I'm glad it didn't matter.

Dustin Johnson is way taller than Jack Nicklaus.

I'll have whatever the USGA President was drinking.
 
the issue was having the time to talk with him to decide if his actions caused the ball to move. they didnt think stopping the tourney for 10-15 to talk about it was a good thing.. as they said this is how they deal with it at every event waiting until the round is over..

as the rules guy sad grounding the club is not the only event to use to decide if he moved the ball.. stepping in to hit or grounding the club for the practice swing next to the ball which is really why they ended up ruling it a penalty.

and as for waiting to make a call. they do that in other sports, perhaps not waiting that long, but goals in hockey have been taken away because of plays that happened many shifts earlier. baseball has plays that are ruled on after the game and cause an entire game to be replayed.

they could also have ruled it a stroke then and change it after. not sure which way was better.
 
It's a stupid rule that needs to be changed, and has been for a long time. Some of golf's rules are particularly anal this way.

And the USGA came across like a bunch of twits once again. They set the greens up at 14, and then they want to know why the ball moved? Really? Idiots all.

That decision to wait until the round was over to review the incident was flat out idiotic. The rules attendant following the pair said play on, so that should be the end of it. It's like reviewing an umpire's call at first base from the third inning, changing the umpire's decision and saying "Sorry, the run scored on that play doesn't count now."

Ben Crane put it best:

 
It's a stupid rule that needs to be changed, and has been for a long time. Some of golf's rules are particularly anal this way.

And the USGA came across like a bunch of twits once again. They set the greens up at 14, and then they want to know why the ball moved? Really? Idiots all.

That decision to wait until the round was over to review the incident was flat out idiotic. The rules attendant following the pair said play on, so that should be the end of it. It's like reviewing an umpire's call at first base from the third inning, changing the umpire's decision and saying "Sorry, the run scored on that play doesn't count now."

Ben Crane put it best:

The USGA should be thankful there was little wind there this week or they likely would have had stoppages of play because balls at rest would have been sent in motion on many of those greens.
 
The USGA should be thankful there was little wind there this week or they likely would have had stoppages of play because balls at rest would have been sent in motion on many of those greens.

They didn't learn a damned thing from Shinnecock Hills, it seems. It's the most inbred groupthink I've seen in sports.
 
If I was Dustin I would have said wait, what are you talking about. I don't need to see it, I didn't make it move, it moved because the greens are to fast and hard. I'm not hitting another shot until you come to a decision. Either penalize me or don't but I'm not playing until you decide.

USGA looked like a bunch of bafoons who wanted to penalize him but didn't have the balls to and then tried to pressure the guy into penalizing himself instead. They are so lucky he ran away with it.
 
I'm not a huge golf fan... has something like this ever happened before and how did it play out? Not that a ball has moved, I get that has happened. But this type of judgment, etc.
 
I'm not a huge golf fan... has something like this ever happened before and how did it play out? Not that a ball has moved, I get that has happened. But this type of judgment, etc.

Its not uncommon to put a player on notice of review during a round. But those are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds when its not of vital importance to the outcome of the tourney. This is done to avoid a hold up in play. In any other round this would have been fine IMO and I can't remember it every happening in the 4th round with a player who was in contention.

Penalizing him was the wrong call from what I saw and with the conditions of the greens. It was also inconsistent with the ruling they had on another player who actually addressed the ball with his putter, grounded it and the ball wobbled. They chose not to penalize in that instance. Johnson's putter was clearly in the air and didn't touch the ball it was a greens condition issue but the USGA will never admit that.
 
Its not uncommon to put a player on notice of review during a round. But those are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds when its not of vital importance to the outcome of the tourney. This is done to avoid a hold up in play. In any other round this would have been fine IMO and I can't remember it every happening in the 4th round with a player who was in contention.

Penalizing him was the wrong call from what I saw and with the conditions of the greens. It was also inconsistent with the ruling they had on another player who actually addressed the ball with his putter, grounded it and the ball wobbled. They chose not to penalize in that instance. Johnson's putter was clearly in the air and didn't touch the ball it was a greens condition issue but the USGA will never admit that.

The USGA might be as big a bunch of dorks as the NFL owners, just not as rich.
 
Its not uncommon to put a player on notice of review during a round. But those are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds when its not of vital importance to the outcome of the tourney. This is done to avoid a hold up in play. In any other round this would have been fine IMO and I can't remember it every happening in the 4th round with a player who was in contention.

Penalizing him was the wrong call from what I saw and with the conditions of the greens. It was also inconsistent with the ruling they had on another player who actually addressed the ball with his putter, grounded it and the ball wobbled. They chose not to penalize in that instance. Johnson's putter was clearly in the air and didn't touch the ball it was a greens condition issue but the USGA will never admit that.
balls can wobble they cant move. he also grounded his putter to the side and that is considered part of the act of grounding his club.
 
Its not uncommon to put a player on notice of review during a round. But those are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds when its not of vital importance to the outcome of the tourney. This is done to avoid a hold up in play. In any other round this would have been fine IMO and I can't remember it every happening in the 4th round with a player who was in contention.

Penalizing him was the wrong call from what I saw and with the conditions of the greens. It was also inconsistent with the ruling they had on another player who actually addressed the ball with his putter, grounded it and the ball wobbled. They chose not to penalize in that instance. Johnson's putter was clearly in the air and didn't touch the ball it was a greens condition issue but the USGA will never admit that.


I wonder if the delays from the first round and the fact that they were always trying to catch up, time-wise, played into the situation.
 
balls can wobble they cant move. he also grounded his putter to the side and that is considered part of the act of grounding his club.

I know but the other guys wobbles and the line he used to line up his put was no longer on line which means it moved. Johnson did ground his putter on the side during his practice routine. He's done it his whole career and never made the ball move. He picked his club up and went to get into position and the ball rolled back without him touching anything. It's a green condition issue IMO.
 
I wonder if the delays from the first round and the fact that they were always trying to catch up, time-wise, played into the situation.

I don't think so. I read that situation as them trying to get Dustin to call the penalty on himself because they didn't want to. Remember the language used when they first interviewed that rules guy.
 
I don't think so. I read that situation as them trying to get Dustin to call the penalty on himself because they didn't want to. Remember the language used when they first interviewed that rules guy.

Agreed, jordoo. I'm of the fixed opinion that after the last round was "completed," if Johnson was tied or one stroke up, the gutless pukes at the USGA, to avoid further embarrassment, wouldn't have penalized him. The only reason they did penalize him was to save face by asserting it was the right decision, and because there was no consequence to its application. Good grief, what a bunch of dorks.
 
Agreed, jordoo. I'm of the fixed opinion that after the last round was "completed," if Johnson was tied or one stroke up, the gutless pukes at the USGA, to avoid further embarrassment, wouldn't have penalized him. The only reason they did penalize him was to save face by asserting it was the right decision, and because there was no consequence to its application. Good grief, what a bunch of dorks.

Yeppers. I agree completely with this.
 
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