Oh, those dq’s

The season has begun with three disqualifications of note, two on big stages, one on the Hooters Tour that involved a local player.  In each case, information about inadvertent violations came to light after the players had signed their score cards and returned them to the Committee but before the competition was closed.    The players were deemed to have committed an action that resulted in a penalty, then failed to include the penalty on their score cards.  All three were then disqualified for signing for a score lower than actually taken.

When incidents like this take place, especially when a phone call or electronic communication from a viewer to the PGA Tour is involved, many opine that Rule 6-6, Scoring in Stroke Play, needs to be changed.  Keep in mind the USGA’s Rules of Golf Committee reviews all of the Rules all of the time, so it’s not like this issue hasn’t been discussed before.    We are one year away from the next Rules of Golf changes in this logical system that has been in effect for nearly sixty years.  The Rules of Golf are on a four-year cycle.  The USGA Rules of Golf Committee, who writes and interprets the Rules,  includes members of their Executive Committee, senior staff, plus representatives from the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (St. Andrews, Scotland, for the rest of the world), PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, PGA of America, and amateur golf associations in the USA like ours.   These people are good.   These recent incidents will add to the discussions before the Rules, effective January 1, 2012, are announced sometime this summer.  Former USGA Executive Director Frank Hannigan, a top notch Rules person, once wrote after a  score card incident–if there were a better way than currently in effect, the Rules of Golf Committee would have implemented it.  I can’t think of a significant change in Rule 6-6 since I became involved in the Rules thirty-plus years ago.  And it’s not because the Rule hasn’t been reviewed.

Ponder the following points.

If a player breaks a Rule inadvertently, returns an incorrect score card, and the competition has closed, there is no penalty.  There is a statute of limitations on an unintentional breach.  The DQ penalties we’re talking about have taken place while the competition was still being played.    The only times the committee can act after a competition is closed is if players agreed to waive Rules or a competitor knew he had broken a Rule and failed to include the penalty–most likely cheating.  However, sometimes players forget.  If the player is aware, then forgets, the penalty is still dq.  It is up to the Committee to define the close of the competition.  In WPGA events, it’s when all scores are posted.

Most incidents called in to various televised events are resolved in favor of the player whose ball is involved.

During my season on the LPGA Tour, I once made a ruling for a player near a cart path.  When I finished a spectator told me about a competitor a few groups ahead.  She had hit the ball in the same place and dropped it on the other side of the path when taking relief from the obstruction.  I radioed ahead to the scoring tent.  When the player arrived, we asked her.  Sure enough, she had played from a wrong place.  Bad news–two stroke penalty.  Good news–it was handled in time so she wasn’t disqualified.  Is information from a spectator any different than a phone call or e-mail?  Not many think so.  It’s information on which the Committee must act.

Signing and returning score cards isn’t rocket science.  For example, only five Decisions among more than 1000 in the USGA’s Decisions on the Rules of Golf are located under Rule 6-6d.

The most recent Decision involves the famous incident at a British Open where two players inadvertently kept the scores of their fellow competitors on the other’s player’s card and returned them.  They were disqualified.  However, the new Decison, 2008,  now  says the Committee should “strike the name printed on the score card, enter the name of the competitor whose scores are recorded on the score card and accept the score card without penalty to either player.”   Yes, the Rules Committee will change procedures when warranted.

Some Decisions favor the player such as no penalty if a player signs the card in the wrong place as long as it’s signed or a competitor signs with his initials rather than his name.

These recent disqualifications are unfortunate, but the cure is likely worse than the affliction.