Time to put stop to television golf assists

DOES this bother you? Two Saturdays ago on NBC, PGA tournament leader Charley Hoffman hit his drive into the right uh-oh — thick, ragged, bush and straw.

Soon, field reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay, Phil Mickelson’s estranged caddie, was seen, microphone in hand, helping to find Hoffman’s ball. “What’s this?” Mackay was heard to ask, “This might be it, here.”

Not sure whether it was Mackay who found it, but Hoffman soon declared his ball unplayable, took a drop then made double-bogey. He finished the tournament in second.

But should TV, ostensibly there only to cover the tournament, volunteer to help determine its outcome?

The help NBC provided Hoffman was inequitable in that because he was in contention, TV was there. Such assistance logically could not have been provided to most of the rest of the field in any event. I asked this question years ago when NBC’s Mark Rolfing not only scoured deep rough looking for the ball of the Sunday leader, NBC aired slo-mo replays trying to pinpoint where it landed. Rolfing, the next day, understood the point but said he hadn’t even considered whether what he and NBC did was kosher. The USGA gave no definitive answer.

It’s time the PGA and USGA was clear on such matters. And given that TV assistance can’t be given to all — think of the advantage TV would provide Tiger

Woods — it should be given to none.

Sorry, Charley, while everyone else could join that search party, Mackay and NBC should’ve stood aside.