Shock: LPGA Viewer Turns In Inkster For Violation; World Stunned To Learn LPGA Has Viewers
Seriously, another feather in the Rules of Golf fiasco plume...
Mike Tokito for The Oregonian explains how Juli Inkster should be in second place of the Safeway Classic, but was instead disqualified for an absurd rules breach once again missed by officials but picked up by one of the six people watching the telecast.
Instead, Inkster was disqualified for violating Rule 14-3 of the United States Golf Association's "Rules of Golf," which bars the use of practice devices during rounds. The USGA's "Decisions on the Rules of Golf" specifically addresses weighted headcovers and "donuts" used at make clubs heavier to help players get loose. Their use is barred during rounds.
Inkster used the donut while waiting to hit her tee shot on the par-5 10th hole, which had backed up as players waited in the fairway to attempt to hit the green in two shots. Inkster gave the Golf Channel an interview on the tee, then slid the donut on her 9-iron to get loose, and footage of her practice swings was show on the Golf Channel.
A viewer saw it and e-mailed tournament officials, who forwarded the e-mail to the LPGA rules staff.
"I had a 30-minute wait, and I needed to loosen up," Inkster, who quickly left the course and did not speak to reporters, told a member of the LPGA media relations staff. "It had no effect on my game whatsoever, but it is what it is. I'm very disappointed."
Hey, at least they let Inkster finish the round. If only Sarah Brown could have been so fortunate.
Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 12:59 AM
Reader Comments (66)
The bottom line is if your income depends on playing a sport and knowing the rules can affect your end result, it pays to know the rules (even if you think the rules are dumb). Not only can they work against you, the rules can work in your favor as well.
If the Rules have "morphed" to that kind of extraordinary policing, then certainly they can be streamlined and updated to modern golf play.
Once the Rules people are aware of the breach they have no option but to act on it-and Inkster should have known better-there have been high profile breaches before.
Geoff I challenge you to come up with a simple version of the Rules that will work in practice.
Bear in mind that every professional/competitive amateur will find and exploit every loophole you might leave-and I would be willing to bet there will be a few!
Agree that it's Inkster's fault. Understand applying this rule to an actual swing, but why practice swings? Also, is there a difference between a "practice swing" and just swinging the club like a baseball bat during a half-hour delay? Didn't see how she actually made the illegal swings, however.
So WHY were you doing it? To LOOSEN UP? And THAT DOESN'T have an efect on your game by even a little bit?
Next time this happens I'm sure Julie will just swing 2 clubs and not use her "donut."
Even with the Internet, where would you find the number to call in? And why would the LPGA have someone to answer the phones on a Saturday?
All these tv watching rules officials need to get lives. Go play golf instead of watching -- and then participating -- in it.
No other sport allows this. None.
You are wrong. With his George Steinbrenner's recent passing I can now reveal that I was the "avid fan" who wanted to protect the integrity of the game many years ago when I called the Yankees front offices and spoke to George and told him about the excessive pine tar on George Brett's bat.
I'll never forget his response when I told him that he was duty bound to protect the field of all the teams vying for the American League pennant and that the honor of the game depended upon his calling him on it. He said, and it was so poignant as he hesitated as if he understood that the light of history was shining down on him at that very moment, "If it only cost my Yankees the pennant I wouldn't do it, but since its for the good of everyone else and the game of baseball..."
And the rest is history...
1. Granted, Juli should have known. But a weighted donut is NOT a "practice device" despite what the "Desicions" says. A reasonable interpretation of the rules limits that particular characterization to those infomercial-hawked things Roy McAvoy and Molly Griswold used in "Tin Cup." That would also include the Power Hitter and the straps and grip-inducing glove one of my regular golf companions uses on occasion (but we aren't playing a match so it doesn't matter to me; some of you will undoubtedly view this as "agreeing to waive the rules"...sorry).
2. How is the donut different from swinging two clubs, which is legal? The objective of each exercise is identical and there is no conceivable advantage to the donut over the two clubs. Imagine that she was swinging two clubs and had one slip out of her hands while surrounded by a gallery.
3. Phil, what do you mean? Maybe Juli's statement was inartful, but what it means to me is that she was doing nothing like "practice" while standing on that tee waiting for her turn. The Rules of Golf rightly prohibit that. Loosening up is NOT practice, any more than a practice swing is practice. But it is something a 50-year-old golfer particularly needs to keep in mind. Getting old can be a trial, I know this from personal experience, but it beats the alternative. Good story about The Boss, btw!
4. I disagree with some of our fellow Shackelfordians that these rules fiascoes will affect participation in the Game. Cost, real and perceived snootiness, and 5-hour rounds are quite sufficient for that. However, in this case the USGA looks stupid, much stupider than the PGA of America last week. Shocking, I know. And btw, who are these people who write these "Decisions"?
chico, Aunt Blabbie is Johnny Carson's alter ego of Maude Frickert, who was created by the great Jonathan Winters. She isn't supposed to make sense all the time, but she is frequently profound. As in this case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Winters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrNht7PtQFc
I meant that Juli is more than a biot disingenuous by saying that "It had no effect on my game whatsoever..." It did. She did it with the specific intent of keeping her muscles relaxed and stretched and it therefor affected her swing which most definitely affected her game. to say otherwise is, as I said, "DUMB."
You are wrong as the donut most definitely IS a PRACTICE device designed SPECIFICALLY as an attachemnt for the club to aid one PRIOR to playing a round. NO ONE would hit a ball in competion with a donut on the club...
I have always enjoyed the fact that the PGA and its affiliates have made an effort to shake off the notion that the game is reserved for the white shoe set but this embrace of the masses participation is bone headed.
As to Julie Inster, she has always been one of my favorite LPGA pros, I have no problem with the penalty, just the manner in how it was determined.
rob
Although, since Congress recently reduced the penalties for crack cocaine possession to be the same as powder cocaine - which opens a can of worms regarding all the people now in prison and their sentences - maybe we should have a "Decisions on the Rules" convention with retroactive penalty changes for outcomes we never really liked? . . . How about a playoff at Augusta next April - on Wednesday AM before the par 3 contest - between de Vincenzo and Goalby?
re-loosening up?
I am aware of the rule concerning practice devices, but I never thought a donut was a "practice device". If she Has a 3 pound hand barbell in her bag, and re-loosened up with it , then...:????
But the BIG problem is, do players screen themselves, and are there RULES OFFICIALS?
Golf EITHER IS A GAME OF HONOR, AND ABIDES BY THIS, OR IS NOT , AND EVERYONE IS AN OFFICIAL, AND NO ONE IS TO BE TRUSTED. IT CANNOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.
Lately , I would say that IT NOT A GAME OF HONOR, IT IS A GAME OF HORROR.
EFF the TV viewer, and may the anal children who "call in" rot in a bunker at Whistling Straits, with nary a club.
We already know they have no balls.
How can anyone take the ROG serIously, when some idiot in Des Moines can call a rule from his B&W Zenith?
This is not an interactive video game. These people are working. If the officials, competitors,and player do not recognize an action as a penalty, then that's that. If TV is the new official, then ALL PLAYERS MUST HAVE EVERY MOVE VIDEOED BY THE TV CREW.
Fair is fair, Isn't that what the rules are 'supposed' to be far.
I cannot believe how many people on here have said some version of 'I don't know why it's a rule, but I support it" about the many events we have discussed. I challenge these miscarraiges of justice.
OR:
If you cannot use a donut, you cannot stretch. Let's add more dumbass rules. Let's get something in there about the fabric your shirt must be made of, and the color of your shoes. I have seen some shoes that deserve a penalty, and some shirts that a bowler would be proud of.
Or, let us all start calling in on everthing, penalty or not. We need a good fella to find and publish the officials number ,and bombad it with inane no penalty calls, and while we are at it let's call the network, the network front office, the sponsor, and the caterer. Let's piss everyone off.
Or: how aboutevery pro call arules official before every shot, you know, just to make sure , it's ok. And with Inksters event, let's have them call an official befor every action..... " Is this bottled water ok?.... Are these bananas USGA approved?"
Dumb is dumb.
digsouth
forget crack coke...what about all the Catholics doing time in hell on a meat wrap?
play well.
dgsouth
There are two differences. First, two clubs are separate from each other and because one holds them in a very different grip because of teh two shafts, there is no true practice swing therefor it is not a SWING aid.
Secondly, a donut is ATTACHED to the club, albeit loosely, and is therefor most defintiely a training and/or swing aid.
Swinging two clubs is similar in that it is a means by which one can swing a heavier amount of weight to lossen muscles only in this case it is legal.
Think of it this way. Isn't using a "donut" for practice swings to loosen up the same as if one would put a putting device on a green during the round and take a few practice swings with out the ball in order to relax shoulder muscles and arms to allow for a square putting stroke? No one would do that because it is clearly wrong and no one would question the application against someone who did.
This is the same thing...
And even better, it would be more inclusive and less offensive if we stopped calling them "rules" and started calling them "suggestions". Less chance of someone being inconvenienced, right?
In golf there are a million rules lawyers, but all are spayed and neutered and have no power. They hate that...it's amusing to watch officials and rules makers bat their loophole-seeking, relativism, "intent" and "equity" seeking pleas away like soccer balls. There are only judges, and the appeals process is short. It can be no other way; the alternative is to slouch toward Gommorah.
Life with the Rules of Golf is like living in Singapore, very strict but you know where you stand. Instead of canings, you get DQs and two-stroke penalties. The only place they let us down is the enforcement of slow play, where there are NO penalties. This is a shame, for slow play is worthy of actual caning, not the two-stroke penalty.
I looked in a 1989 decisions book and 14-3/10 was a little more specific then. It banned a specific training aid which was weighted and clicked when swung at the right tempo. Take a swing weight donut and put in some kind of clicker in it and I think most would agree it is a training aid. At some point, the decision was expanded to all training aids and the donut was specifically mentioned. I believe there was a concern about how it could help the player with her tempo as well as loosening her up.
I also have noted that my failure to bring a gin flask is paramount to me needing to add multiple 2 stroke penalties, or even DQing myself on my last 20 and revising my handicap into some form of double bogie throwdown scoring, and lastly, having recently rewatched Mouse Hunt I conclude that there should only be one rule.
"Life without string is chaos"
All play well.
digsouth
I'm gonna get my horseshoes back out, and dig the grass out of the pits. Free, and the rules are clear. You are all invited over.
The good thing about possible violations that are shown on TV is that there is a record of them. Compare this to a situation where one player said another player cheated but there was no record of it. In those cases, the player usually gets away with it as there is not enough proof to convict him. The fact that a person called the office to point out that it was a violation or to ask if it was shouldn't overrule the fact that the rule was broken and there is proof of it.
Since the person identity wasn't revealed, how do we know it wasn't an off-duty LPGA official? Who else would be watching? (-: Actually I was watching and I saw it immediately. I didn't call in because I knew that someone else would if the field staff didn't see it themselves.
I thought it was interesting that in their replay last night, the Golf Channel chose to cut that portion of the telecast.
Now your anti-rules sentiment is becoming poisoned and ridiculous. If Inkster did not know that this was a breach, then in no way can you condemn the Rules of the game, nor because of the way it was called in by a viewer. Inkster - the seasoned veteran she is - has in fact been exposed as having a rookie C grade juniors rules knowledge, and it is her you should be berating.
I really don't see how you can be so venerated as a name or authority within the game if you have such a disdain for the most important element that keeps it together, which is a set of Rules that ensures the game can be played fairly around the world.
Trysil
Rub of the green. I am being entertained, not some golf narc.
Start calling football coverage, and see how quickly you get a restraining order, or your number is blocked.
Play well, and stay away from that phone!!! lol.....
digsouth
I wonder when someone will claim that Juli couldn't know it was a training aid since there were so many fans crowded around the tee box... :-P
I fail to see how anyone can condone letting a player violate a rule and say that the witness should not be allowed to say anything about it.
If the rule was violated and nobody was allowed to tell the rules staff that it was violated, how much would people bitch about the player getting away with it?
In regard to Inkster, if you make your living playing the game, you should know the rules. It doesn't take long to learn them. Tom Watson wrote a great book on the rules, and as previously mentioned, knowing them can help you more than hurt you. For example, did you know you can ground your club on a bridge over a body of water? There you go.
All interesting thoughts, but let me present yet another .
ALL these 'rules hounds' (no disrespect intended) are 'in love' with ' the traditions of the game" (maybe a little gigging implied)
Well, players did fine playing within the rules before TV, and that was back where 'the traditions' come from.
If we are to believe that the players 'have honor', and 'call penalties on themselves', then we cannot be the 'Golf NSA' evesdropping on every move, without acknowledging , that we do not trust them as far as we can throw them.
It just cannot be both ways, and reflect true honesty.
The players need to know the rules. if an infraction gets missed, or is seen by a TV viewer, who cannot do anything about it, I'm fine with that.
It is not the job of a spectator to enforce the ROG, and to let them do so, is to say that the players have no honor.
While I normally am not a fan of 'black or white', it seems to me that this is a case where the ruling bodies talk out both sides of their mouth, and a bit out their ass, too.
Trust the players, or don't.
Enjoy the day, and play well, if you get to go out!!
digsouth
Btw, is that tape Tiger wears on one of his fingers an illegal device that helps him grip the club better. If we are going to play by the rules this is not unimportant.
Off to the course. What is the heat index today? Lessee, 103. Damn, I don't pay the extra $15 for a cart until it gets to 106.
Hey smartguy, I bet Geoff has played with them. I have on occasion and it is a lot of fun. And they did generally beat me from 100 yards in, like a drum. Learned a lot though. The few times I have played with a PGA Tour player I didn't learn a single thing except that I cannot play the game at all. The LPGA Tour has two things to blame for its eclipse: Their own stupidity as an organization (Exhibit A: Brand Lady Bivens) and the rise of the Grumpy Old Man Tour. They couldn't do anything about the latter, but not having an event in Corning this year, among other things? Completely their fault.
Law Dog: Thanks for that tidbit. I have played off a bridge over a hazard and wondered about that.
The spectators aren't "enforcing" the rules, but if a player fails in his or her responsibility to do so, the rules officials, being aware of an infraction, MUST.
Regarding Tiger's tape, Decision 14-3/8 covers that one. Basically, if it is used to reduce blisters or eliminate the possibility of skin splits it is ok. But, it can not be excessive. It can't be used to bind fingers together.