Rule 18:2

[Harry (The Hack) Radley]

Why is it that the two rules officials for the USGA are the only knuckle heads in the entire world that think Dustin Johnson incurred a penalty

There are 175 gazillion golfers world wide and not one of them think there is an iota of a chance that there was a breach in the rules

This is 1000 % wrong. There isnt even one person who said, (yeah, maybe, I can see where they are coming from) not one, nada, nil, zip, nothing

The USGA should man up and admit they screwed the pooch. Their credibility has once again taken a hit.

In my opinion they should implement Rule 35 “If in the case where there is no other rules that fully cover the situation dictated by the condition and you are required to justify the decision being made then apply Rule 35 . ie. make them up as you go along.

[Bob Newman]

Barry Rhodes did put out on his blog that he did think that D J caused the ball to move based on how close to the ball he was with 2 practice brushing the grass and soleilng his putter that close to the ball. I only saw it on replay in slow motion– BUT when the walking rules official, who spoke with DJ declared he did not cause the ball to move and play from the new position, that should have been the end of it. He make the ruling he did not cause the ball to move, he did not get on the radio to ask for help from the van, HE made the ruling in real time from watching it and talking to dustin, he did not ask “did you sole the putter, he asked did you address the ball. The discussion should have not gone any further that what he ruled on. The USGA did indeed screw this up. I honestly do not think there was high enough grass since they were running 14-15 stemp, for the grounding of the club or the brushing to move enough grass to cause the ball to move. In the truest sense of the rules, if a player is that close to the ball with a putter or club, it could be taken that he caused the ball to move but I do not believe that the conditions of greens was even thought about.

[Rick Kimbrell]

I think the USGA screwed up in their handling of the situation. One should question how many times in normal tour event does a ball moving on a green even come up. It came up 3 times in the US Open. In the strictest sense of the rules, Lowry’s ball moved and he was penalized. He “addressed” the ball, in the sense spelled out in the rules defining addressing the ball. He soled his putter behind the ball and the ball moved…penalty. I doubt that his action of addressing the ball actually made it move but that is how the rules have been interpreted. Another player had his ball move on Sunday and he was not penalized…he told the official he did not sole his putter. End of story for him. Strange, did they not want to review taped footage of him…oh…maybe there wasn’t any taped footage.
Think about it…3 different instances in the US Open and the ball moves. How bizarre is that?

[Author]

Posts