WELCOME CHANGE
Lexi paid price for golf rules
Imagine that you are leading a PGA Tour or LPGA Tour event on Sunday, minding your own business on the tee box, fairway and putting green and purely focused on winning the tournament.
Then a mega-bogey bomb hits you — rather unexpectedly.
It suddenly comes to your attention that you have been penalized for something you didn’t even know you did just because some overzealous fan, watching on television, alerted officials about an apparent rules infraction that millions and millions of viewers never did see.
Of course, that is what happened to Lexi Thompson at the LPGA’s first major of the season, ANA Inspiration, earlier this month.
It made it woefully clear that a G (R) UR sign needs to be erected at every golf course in the world: Golf Rules Under Repair.
As it were — so ridiculous and painful to watch — Thompson went from being in the lead, two strokes ahead, after 12 holes that Sunday to being two strokes behind, thanks to a TV snitch’s tip-off alerting LPGA officials of the infraction.
Apparently, Thompson’s ball replacement on Hole No. 17 one day earlier during the third round wasn’t TV-picture perfect.
The end result was a fourstroke penalty: two strokes for not returning her ball to its original place after she marked it — apparently missing by a few centimetres — and then two more strokes because she signed a scorecard that did not account for a penalty she didn’t even know she had incurred. Ridiculous. Thompson was only notified of the incident while walking off the 12th green in the fourth round. Crazy.
Now, with record-breaking club-speed, the United States Golf Association and Royal and Ancient golf governing body have issued a new decision on the Rules of Golf to actually limit the use of video evidence in the game.
That revision — call it the Lexi Thompson rule, if you will — takes place immediately.
Players can no longer be held to the same degree of precision as video technology while replacing a lifted ball or determining a nearest point of relief.
This will help prevent so-called “armchair whistleblowers” from refereeing golf tournaments, and essentially changing their outcome, from the seat of their living room chairs.
It could also be called the Anna Nordqvist rule, as the revision notes an example of a player unknowingly touching a few grains of sand while making a stroke of the club, during its backswing, in a bunker.
This happened to Nordqvist in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open when her backswing displaced a grain of sand in a bunker. A TV camera recorded the violation. Nordqvist did not.
These revisions are just a start. As we know, the Rules of Golf are in for a complete overhaul in January 2019.
Thank goodness, some common sense will prevail.
ZURICH OF NEW ORLEANS
Looks like they’re trying to add some Cajun spice and a dash of hot sauce this week to the PGA Tour’s $1.26-million Zurich of New Orleans Classic at TPC Louisiana.
The PGA Tour is introducing a two-man team format this year to make things just a little different.
Saskatchewan’s Graham DeLaet is paired up with fellow SportBox golfer David Hearn. They’ll tee it up today at 12:31 p.m. Another Canuck duo, Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor, will head to the blocks for a 12:52 p.m. tee time.
Among the pre-tournament favourites are Justin Rose-Henrik Stenson, Jason Day-Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth-Ryan Moore, Branden Grace-Louis Oosthuizen, Luke Donald-Jamie Lovermark, Keegan Bradley-Brendan Steele, and Bud Cauley-Justin Thomas. For the first and third rounds, golfers will play alternate shots. For the second and fourth rounds, a best-ball format will be used.
WEB.COM TOUR
Following the United Leasing championship, the Web. com Tour heads to Mexico for the $650,000 El Bosque Mexico Championship in Guanajuato.
Among the golfers currently within The 25 — the top 25 golfers on the Web.com Tour graduate to the PGA Tour — are former Dakota Dunes participants and/ or Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada grads Sam Ryder (4), Talor Gooch (16), Brandon Harkins (18), Corey Conners (19) and Aaron Wise (20).
Meanwhile, former Dakota Dunes players Conrad Shindler (33), Rob Oppenheim (42) and Roger Sloan (50) are among those in the Web.com Tour’s top 50.
Golf Saskatchewan held its annual general meeting this past weekend with the 2017 executive and board of directors set as follows:
Kyle Mulligan (president, Royal Regina); Delbert Betnar (vice-president, Regina Joanne Goulet Golf Club); Todd Berhstersser (treasurer, Saskatoon public player); Richard Smith (past president, Katepwa Beach); Kevin Duchscherer (Nipawin Evergreen); Dave Forster (Regina Joanne Goulet); Ben Findlay (Regina Wascana); Mark Galambos (Saskatoon SGCC); Don Kunkel (Yorkton Deer Park); Judy Sefton (Melfort Golf Club).
Guest speakers included Devon Evershed, who provided a Golf Canada membership department update, and John Greenough, president of the PGA of Saskatchewan.
Delegates were updated on the operational areas, including a review of strategic plan and budgets, new-look website, championship schedule, online registration, women’s programming and other sport development initiatives.
Audited financial statements show a surplus of $58,000 for Golf Saskatchewan.