Mell: Backstopping Must Stop, PGA Tour Must Intervene

Randall Mell at GolfChannel.com is the first outside of posts here to take on the backstopping matter. With the PGA Tour Player of the Year trying to argue the practice is almost non-existent and it's his right to take advantage of another player's golf ball as a backstop.

Yikes!

Anyway, Mell notes that a Rules of Golf does cover this issue in the Decisions two ways, with the latter requiring, the players admit intent. What is still not addressed in any of this discussion is the obvious thumbing of noses to the spirit of the rules, something that has left many long time elite players aghast watching the practice evolve.

But if the spirit of the rules angle doesn't impact today's young players, maybe the dollar figure side will.

Using Sunday's Tony Finau incident as his example, Mell writes of the shot saved:

Finau took home $669,000 for finishing second on Sunday. Phil Mickelson and Chesson Hadley finished a shot behind Finau and took home $359,600 for sharing third place.

If Finau had not saved par at the 12th and fallen into a three-way tie for second, he would have taken home $462,933, as would Mickelson and Hadley.

That matters, and so do the FedExCup points at stake.

Mell says the PGA Tour cannot wait for the governing bodies to address something that imperils the integrity of the tour when it's trying to make sure it has all integrity ducks in a row.

The PGA Tour’s administration ought to step in, too, to address whether Thomas is right in his thinking, or whether there is more for players to consider. Fans should know whether the PGA Tour deems Thomas is correct in asserting he has “a right” to play quickly. This isn’t about trying to craft specific language for a new rule. It’s about examining hearts and creating awareness about the importance of even the appearance of impropriety.

There’s no definitive solution here, but if the Tour’s going to implement an integrity program to protect itself from gambling issues, then framing backstopping issues for players that will reduce the possibilities they become a powder keg some Sunday soon is worth flushing out.

Comments

[Ian B.]

It's simple. You hit the ball, find it, and repeat until the ball is in the hole. That's golf. This 'backstop' stuff is just another sign of paralysis by analysis that does the game no good at all.

[digsouth]

Tony's shot was the FIRST I have seen in a long time that has actually been helped by the so called ''backstopping''. Granted ,I am not glued in front of the TV watching every shot, but I FR thru most, and stop any time something interesting happens, back it up and check it out. That ball on the green should have been marked, it was all too close, and the probability was somewhat likely.

[Rob]

Don’t think Justin Thomas would be exercising his right to play quickly if the opponent’s ball was directly on his line. What’s happening is cheating.

[OWGR Fan]

Really? Quoting Randell Mell as a voice of reason? The same person that said Rory McIroy narrowly avoided the cut @ the Dunhill after the second round without realizing that the cut came after the third round once everybody played all 3 courses like they do at the AT&T?

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/rory-plans-enjoy-his-final-round-2017/

** McIlroy, who narrowly made the cut Friday, fought through a third round that was a bit like the rest of his season. He made eight birdies at Kingsbarns, but there were setbacks. **

Really Randall? Wow. Randalls time has long past as a writer. Facts first. Was he at both the Dunhill & Safeway this weekend for his reporting when was he home in Orlando and not sure of all the facts?

That's as bad when a GC announcer in the Orlando studio comments on an ET telecast when they are 5000 miles away at 6:00 am EST.

[IMHO]

All it takes is ANY player to say he wants the ball be lifted and the other player has to wait. Step up players and protect the field!

[PABoy]

I think Lanny Wadkins called it out during a broadcast.

[BrianS]

It isn't isolated, I saw the same thing happen earlier in the weekend, I can't remember who was invovled, but it was in the last 2 groups, maybe it was Saturday or Friday night. In that instance, the ball just rolled to a stop within an inch of the "left" ball, but the situation was exactly the same.

A few months back when the Lexi situation occurred, Phil and I believe others stepped up with complaints about marking practices in general, maybe this will take someone of that stature to make something happen.

[Paul]

These young guys are brash. Probably why they win so much because they have stones and afraid of no one. Another example, Berger with the we want to crush them quote at the Presidents Cup.

[jjshaka]

Thank you Mr. Mell.
It's a disgrace this wasn't echoed by the entire golf establishment and media.
Golf is special because integrity is #1..backstopping makes that a joke.
End it tomorrow.

[Orchardist]

All part of the show. Let the players decide how they want to handle it.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/88633-pga-tour-players-not-marking-balls-when-in-position-to-assist-another-player/
We've been talking about it for awhile, too.

It's more than 3-4 years old, but I don't think it's as old as 10.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Hit post too soon…
- Older players wouldn't have done this.
- Current PGA Tour players think that they should apply their own rules, and this trend is increasing.
- This doesn't happen in majors OR Ryder Cups or probably even the WGC Match Play.
- ANY player (or referee) can require the ball to be marked.
- Kokrak was 34 yards away. He had time to mark.
- Time spent marking a ball that is in a position to assist doesn't count against you even if you're on the clock. Players are using "pace of play" as cover.

[Keith - NYC]

Seems like the game has far bigger issues to address before taking this one to task.

[Shivas]

This is a non-issue. The REAL issue is that if the PGA Players start doing it, every Tour-worshipping dipwad weekend warrior golfer is going to copy them and insist on running up to mark their ball before his buddy hits a 50 foot putt or 20 yard chip - slowing the game down further, just like when they pace off the difference between 178 and 176 yards, when they incessantly fiddle with their cheater lines, when they take 19 practice swings and go into their pre-shot seance - all because "that's what the pros do"! Screw that. Hit the ball. It's called rub of the green, and the rules most certainly DO address this..

[Carl Peterson]

>> It's more than 3-4 years old, but I don't think it's as old as 10.

Erik, I'm not sure what "it" refers to in that sentence but Decisions 22/6 and 22/7 have been in book since at least 1996 (I don't, know offhand, when they were first added; the 1996 book just happened to be the oldest one within reach when I read your post).

[BDF]

Folks, the guys I play with will make every effort to get their ball out of the way if it could be advantageous to the guy chipping, and we are playing a buck a point, ten dollar rangs and $5 Nassau, not for hundreds of thousands. This practice strikes at the character of the Pros, the wink-wink, nudge-nudge that they are above the rules.

As has been stated in an earlier post, if the ball is anywhere near the intended line to the hole, they have no problem waiting. And match play? You think it happens in the match play events? Right...

[Shivas]

I fail to see how this practice can be against the spirit or ethos of the game of golf for one simple reason: the ball wasn't even allowed to be picked up on the green AT ALL until fairlly recently in the 500+ year old history of the game! So all this talk about how it's semi-cheating to leave the ball alone on the green instead of marking it and picking it up is complete balderdash, and has it 180 degrees backwards. It's the marking in the first place that runs contrary to the spirit of the game...

[JS]

Shivas...but if you're going to mark (that horse isn't going back in the barn), might as well do it both when it'll help and hurt, no?

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Carl, I know what the rules are. The "it" is the "backstopping" or quiet collusion on the PGA Tour.

[Carl Peterson]

Shivas, lifting the ball has been in the rules since the 'Special Rules for Medal Play' section was added.

If you're inclined to take the position that Medal (Stroke) Play is contrary to the spirit of the rules then it might be best if you stop watching (or, at least commenting on) play under that format.

Erik: sorry for the confusion (didn't your grammar teacher tell you not to use a pronoun without an antecedent?).

[digsouth]

Looks to me like Thomas' ''right'' quote was taken out of context, and not what he actually said. Again, i look at this as a cop lettting another cop slide on a speeding rap. Right or wrong, shoot happens- howabout caddies signalling what club is being hit , esp on par 3's a MAJOR breach of rule concerning advice, and despite a ''crackdown'' a few years ago, it still goes on every week.

There's yer real breach of the rules that has a real effect every round in every group, not the occasional player's balls slapping against each other as they try to get it in the hole first (!). ( double entendre- you make the call!)

This dissing ball whackers is like the coninued discussion on a lesser of two evils- the roll back of the ball, or the continued stupid lengthening of courses.... I can only thing of one game/sport that needs to address a change in the ''size/shape'' to bring some parity into the game and make it challenging- basketball- the need to stop palming the ball, traveling, and most of all- the need to raise the height of the basket.

The caddie sharing is a much bigger deal than the ball banging. Geoff, why not open that can of worms?

dig

[Griffin]

The thing about this that bugs me the most is the sense that these guys are just a bunch of buddies out there when in fact they are competitors and they should in no way want to do anything that could help their competition. Why would you do that? Plus as I said earlier do they do this with someone they don't like or some new guy or some dude that doesn't speak the language well? Now it's colluding with your pals to get an edge. And you see this with other rulings like the bunker lining incident in Canada I believe a couple of months ago. The audio of that was troubling to me.

[jjshaka]

Griffin is spot on.
The underlying troublesome thing is that this seems like collusion where maximizing the others guys prize money matters more than anything else...and it reeks of "you wash my back" etc.
Taking the competition out of the competition.

[Shivas]

Carl: Why would or should I stop commenting on medal play because I consider it a plague on the game? And why should I not watch it? Please explain. I believe a player should only pick up his ball if requested to do so by a fellow competitor or to clean it if necessary. If neither of those apply, keep your dirty cheatin' hands off the golf ball!!

[Shivas]

A player should have every right in the world to play his ball as it lies - without touching it. What a perversion of the game this whole topic is.

[Carl Peterson]

If you consider stroke play to be a plague on the game then you should stop watching/commenting on it for your own well-being. That ship has sailed -- stroke play has 'won' as the dominant form of play.

Cope with it or keep ranting like a lunatic.

"A player should have every right in the world to play his ball as it lies..."
Be sure to mention that in the Foreword to "Rules of Shivas-Golf" your reader will appreciate it.

[digsouth]

@Griffin, jjshaka-

When pro golf only paid the first 5 or 10 players, often friends would agree to share their winnings equally- pool it, split it, first, forth, add it up and split it down the middle.

While so much is made of the ''buddy nature of JS, JT, RF, etc, the truth is, players shared a car, a room, and just about everything else in the 30's with Hagan, and a few stars being the exception. While the rivalry between Hogan and Nelson was real, they were only competitors inside the ropes, good friends, and even their wives hung out together. Or course it wasn't for the kind of money they play for now, but it was also in and coming out of the depression.

I don't know if any ''stuff'' ever went on, but I think it is naive to think out of a large group, someone wasn't always on the level all the time. These guys needed to eat. Even into the 50's it was said the card games were where the bigger money was. Virtually all of them hustled games on the links, and made more there than in tourneys.

the only time I ever let a player slide was in a Austin City Championship where a fellow competitor hit a layup on a par 5 that barely rolled into a hazard, but was playable- and he picked it up to identify it, not allowed at that time, and i didn't call any penalty on him- we were both sucking- anyway he beat me by 1 stroke and razzed me, so I never look the other way now,

[Griffin]

digsouth,

I understand all that but you yourself just said Hogan and Nelson 'were only competitors inside the ropes' and that is the whole point here. These guys appear to not be total competitors inside the ropes. I have no problem with these guys being friends but when it comes to the course they should be strictly competitors. Especially in stroke play as they are not the only two players in the tournament.

Strangely enough as opposed to your correct examples of the early days now I don't think this has anything to do with money as most of these guys even the 'less' successful one are beyond wealthy but instead it's a sort of a 'buddy culture' for lack of a better term.

[Shivas]

This whole issue is bunk. A ball coming to rest in a place where it can be a backstop is no more or less a rub of the green than a rake that Kees a ball from rolling into a bunker or a pitch mark that prevents a ball from rolling back off a green. Or two guys having roughly the same line for a putt and the second guy walking in to see the line after the first guy putts. And I don't hear anybody whining about that!! It's the same thing - actually way MORE of an advantage. And nobody is losing their mind about that....

[Carl Peterson]

Perhaps that's because your examples don't require the players to ignore the rules.

And, we all know that we can count on you to lose your mind over the "cheater line"
which is not a breach of the rules.

[TampaGolfer]

How does backstopping really work? I know "these guys are good" (r), but a golf ball is a pretty small target. I guess that some people are upset that a professional is aiming for the hole, but misses and the backstopping ball prevents a run out (a la Finau). But lets face it, that ball has to be in a pretty particular spot to effectively be a backstop. On the proper side of the hole, within the circumference of the distance that a pro would normally miss the hole (12" - 18" to either side or close enough past the hole to leave a makeable putt), and in a situation where Pro A has stuffed it close and Pro B is off the green, in a bunker or has a really long/difficult putt. Does this really happen that often?

As an aside, I only mark when asked or when in someone's direct line. Pace of play issue? No. Bad back. That's 25 - 40 times a round that I don't have to bend over, which can be the difference of being sore after a round or incapacitated.

[Carl Peterson]

Frequency of occurrence is a reasonable issue to consider when writing or amending the rules. It's not relevant, however, when applying them or discussing whether they are being applied or followed.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

+1 for Carl's response to Shivas. Ha.

Plus, "rub of the green" has a definition in the Rules of Golf. That definition is not "bad luck" (or "good luck").

Tampa, it happens more frequently when you have better golfers, particularly when both face short-game shots (that they're likely to leave close to the hole).

[GinGHIN]

Man, I still don't get how people can't see this is cheating. And What I don't think has been discussed is that a player may be more comfortable or aggressive with a shot if other balls are near the hole - yet another reason to enforce the rule.

[Sal Bonpensiero]

Digsouth, by looking the other way in your 4th flight match, you actually cheated as well as the cheater himself. Both should have been disqualified. You don't have the right to randomly decide when you are going to look the other way in competitive golf. It's no wonder you think this topic isn't a big deal because it's exactly what you did.