Golf moves against TV decision review
Golf’s ruling bodies the US Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews have issued a laws change effective immediately to limit the use of video evidence in officiating professional tournaments.
The move comes in the wake of a debacle on the LPGA Tour where at the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration, leader Lexi Thompson was penalised midway through the final round for a rules infringement spotted by a TV viewer. be aware of that. When dealing with video evidence, should we be holding players to a high standard simply because they’re on television?’’
Under the new law, players should not be held to the ‘‘degree of precision’’ that video technology can provide. The rules committee would consider such things as the players’ actions, their explanation and the amount of the discrepancy relative to the drop.
Thompson, who did not speak to reporters after the final round, said in a Golf Channel interview: ‘‘I did not mean that at all. I did not realise I did that.’’
Two issues the USGA and R&A did not tackle was whether to allow television viewers to call in violations, and whether to add penalty shots for what becomes an incorrect scorecard. That still could be coming.
In addition to the new decision, the USGA and R&A announced a working group of officials from the LPGA Tour, PGA Tour, European Tour, Ladies European Tour and the PGA of America to start a comprehensive review of broader video issues.
Golf officials typically care less about the source of information and more about whether a rule was broken and if a penalty should be assessed. Pagel said the new decision on video evidence will minimise the impact viewers have on a competition.
‘‘The moments where you say, ‘Wow, a player is penalised for that?’ Those situations go away. The controversies go away,’’ he said. ‘‘And we think that’s good news.’’
The move away from TV technology was in stark contrast to most major sports where efforts were being made to improve and increase its use in officiating.
Cricket, tennis, rugby union and league have all embraced TV technology in the last 20 years. Football has been making efforts to introduce goal line technology and the A-League in April began using a video referee.