Wow, thank goodness Dustin Johnson won the 2016 US Open! Let me focus first on his masterful victory. I am not the biggest DJ fan, but he played great. He deserved to win that tournament. I am glad that I no longer have to hear about him not having a major title. Put that one to bed!
Now that we have that out of the way, uh USGA how’s it going? What a debacle! You had two similar rules issues with Romain Wattel and Dustin Johnson and two different outcomes. The fact that you gave DJ the penalty is absolutely laughable to me. So you’re trying to say that with poa greens rolling at 15 and a ball that went backward DJ was more likely than not to have caused the ball to move? Give me a freaking break! That was the most BS ruling I have seen and the worst handling of enforcement ever.
The USGA overruled its own walking official. So what is the point of the walking official? There is so much that doesn’t make sense about this rule and how it all went down. So here is my solution. Treat balls moved on the green like a ball knocked off the tee accidentally. If it was not your intent to move the ball, then replace and move along. No penalty. You cannot tell me that it is any different than what happens on the greens when the ball inadvertently moves. Boom I solved it! Was that so hard USGA?
I fired off a lot of tweets as this was going down and I stand by all that I said. This thing was so poorly handled from top to bottom. I will not be joining the USGA anytime soon. I really wish the PGA Tour would take over rules decisions. In addition, maybe they would have the fortitude to admit that the ball is going too far and do something about it!
All of this made the USGA look terrible and it turned me into a DJ fan! Congrats! Oh and DJ and Sergio were in my group I thought could win the 2016 US Open, so go me!
Jimmy, well stated. We’d have a better chance for reform if the debacle had cost DJ the title. Thanks.
Brian
That’s what is sad. The reform is so obvious, yet they won’t do it.
I like your new rule. Jimmy for USGA president !! Is the goal to have the player who plays the best win, or is it to overburden them with rules to see who slips up and has to take a penalty? It is one of the few things that is absurd in golf. I love the game but issues like this make me cringe.
Haha thank you. I will accept the nomination!
Jimmy
Great rant! I agree, when the rules officials make things up as they go along, how can you ever trust them! Golf is a game of integrity…..or so everyone says. Lets start there and see what happens.
Cheers
Jim
Thanks Jim!
Jimmy,
You nailed it here buddy. It is odd to me that while marking your ball on the green, you can accidentally hit your ball with your coin and replace it without penalty. Why can’t you do apply the same thing for these instances? No common sense whatsoever. And as we all agree, there is no way DJ made that ball move in the first place. They still identified the best golfer that week, at least.
Cheers
Josh
Thanks Josh and I agree DJ was the best. But the USGA did itself no favors!