Finchem questions infractions
Popular players more likely to be penalised
A clamorous football crowd can induce visiting squads into committing penalties by drowning out the signal calls.
Full-throated basketball fans can nudge officiating in favour of the home team.
But in no sport can devotees more directly influence the outcome than at a PGA Tour event. Such power can be exerted even if they are not present. All it takes is a television remote control with rewind capabilities, a cursory knowledge of the rules and the phone number to a given tournament’s host course.
The tour permits anyone, even TV viewers, to submit evidence that a player might be guilty of an infraction — often with improperly improving the ball’s lie — that was not detected or reported by the player or others on the spot.
One of the most prominent instances involved Tiger Woods, whose illegal drop at the Masters was spotted by a former rules official watching the tournament on television. Woods received a two-stroke penalty the next day.
At the BMW Championship last weekend, Woods was assessed a two-shot penalty after the second round when his ball moved slightly as he removed debris behind the first green.
This time, the informant was on the crew of PGA Tour Entertainment, the circuit’s video production wing.
The tour’s commissioner, Tim Finchem, expressed concern on Tuesday about the format’s fairness, in part because some players, like Woods, tend to be on TV more.
Speaking at East Lake Golf Club, the site of this week’s Tour Championship finale, Finchem indicated that the tour’s policy board would discuss amending the procedure by possibly limiting the scope of information considered before declaring a result official.
‘‘All the other sports close their books quicker than we do, so to speak,’’ said Finchem, noting that he personally had no position on the matter. ‘‘I don’t like it sometimes. It feels awkward when it happens.’’
Yet he alluded to golf’s foundation of adherence to the letter of the law, which has long held that no player’s transgression should go unpunished.
Seven-time tour winner Peter Jacobsen, who now divides his time between the Champions Tour and the TV announcers’ booth, endorsed the status quo Tuesday, even though he said that Woods unevenly bore the brunt of the custom.
‘‘When we have fans calling in after watching it on TV, it only strengthens the rules of the game and how good we have to be,’’ said Jacobsen, who received the Payne Stewart Award, which recognises sportsmanship, character and charitable activities.
‘‘I don’t mind people calling in," said Jacobsen, adding that integrity was ‘‘one of the measuring sticks out here on tour’’.
Finchem pointed out that the field could be levelled for all players if technology advances to where a camera is aimed at every shot. At the same time, tournament offices might require a phone bank to answer all of the calls about potential violations.
The commissioner mentioned other adjustments the policy board might consider at its November meetings as the tour winds down.
Firstly: reducing the penalty for inadvertently signing an incorrect scoreboard, which traditionally calls for disqualification. The issue has become complicated with the advent of TV watchers reporting perceived infractions.
Secondly: toughening the penalty, generally at two strokes, for an individual’s slow play in the ongoing effort to accelerate the game’s pace.
Thirdly: altering the points formula for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which culminate this weekend, to lessen the often drastic movement of players in the standings and to reward consistency during the long grind leading to it.