‘ Lexi Rule’ might be in the works
Officials consider change on issue of TV viewers calling in rule violations
It has been two weeks since the rules controversy involving Lexi Thompson hit the final round of the LPGA’s ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club. In that short span, it seems the ruling bodies of the sport have decided something has to change.
Reports are that in a meeting at the Masters — with the Thompson ruling still a fresh wound to the game — the powers in the game started crafting changes to the rules that would eliminate part, if not all of, the issues that produced a four- shot penalty for Thompson.
If you haven’t been paying attention, Thompson’s problems came as she exited the 12th green during the final round Sunday with a two- shot lead. At that point, Thompson was informed that a video review of a ball marking she made Saturday, initiated after a television viewer emailed the LPGA, showed Thompson replaced a ball at a slightly different spot than where she had picked it up. That produced a two- shot penalty for hitting the ball from a wrong spot and another two- shot penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard.
Thompson eventually lost the title in a playoff to So Yeon Yu, and watching Thompson in tears after the event was tough. The rulings the LPGA officials made were correct. It’s the manner in which the issue came up— a home viewer contacting rules officials over a nearlyimperceptible rules violation that clearly had no intent of gaining an advantage and almost a day after the violation — that sent much of the golf world into hysterics.
While the U. S. Golf Association and The R& A are notorious for moving slowly to make changes to the game, the Thompson affair seems to have been a tipping point after hassles with replays involving Dustin Johnson and Anna Nordqvist in U. S. Opens in 2016.
The ruling bodies might be figuring out that while violations need to be reported and rules need to be enforced, the idea of TV viewers getting in on the officiating is a bad look for the sport.
Many people outside the sport laughed at the absurdity of viewers starting rules investigations. Many inside the sport, including players, were less amused and bordered on outrage.
So there is talk of a modification of the rules that would allow a player’s “best judgment” of an incident to override any future evidence that the player might well have violated a rule. The ruling bodies hope that would mean viewers at home would be less likely to call in or email if they know their efforts might lead to nothing as long as the player was able to say he or she thought at the time of the violation that no violation occurred.
That’s a start, if indeed that is the change in the language that is proposed. But there does seem to be too much wiggle room in that language. Players still need to be penalized for their violations even if they didn’t know about a violation. But they need those penalties to come in a timely manner and from someone officially connected to the tour or the tournament or someone on- site who saw the violation in real time.
The first step remains obvious. Just stop people who are watching at home from being able to report supposed violations. If a replay man in a TV control truck at the event reports a violation or if a guy in a hospitality tent sees the replay and thinks there is a violation or if someone following a player thinks there is a violation, fine, let them report the potential violation.
But when someone a thousand miles away wants to get involved, the game of golf should stop them.