USGA rescinds penalty on McCarthy
There has been much ado about a new rule in 2019, and golf’s powerful bodies have taken notice.
The U.S. Golf Association, the R&A and the PGA Tour announced Saturday afternoon that the two-shot penalty Denny McCarthy received Friday for violating Rule 10.2b (4) has been rescinded.
All noted in their statements that a similar situation Friday with Justin Thomas was brought to their attention Saturday morning and he would not be penalized either. So everyone is in the clear and McCarthy is getting his two shots back!
He does so after the rule has come under intense criticism.
The rule put into place this year states that when a player begins taking a stance for the stroke and until the stroke is made, his or her caddie cannot deliberately stand in a location on or close to an extension of the line of play behind the ball for any reason.
It seemed a useful change to prevent caddies from aligning their players (which had become quite prevalent on the LPGA).
But Haotong Li was hit with a penalty last week on the European Tour for breaking this new rule, and many considered it a dubious application. The European Tour’s CEO went as far as to call the decision “grossly unfair.”
The backlash on the McCarthy penalty had a similar ferocity.
McCarthy’s original infraction emerged during Friday’s second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, as footage showed his caddie standing behind the ball as McCarthy took practice swings next to the ball while he prepared for a 67-yard wedge shot at TPC Scottsdale’s par-5 15th.
His caddie was no doubt standing there deliberately and it was in a location on an extension of the line of play behind the ball. It would be a penalty if McCarthy had begun to take his stance with his caddie back there.
The interpretation of that rule denotes that stance has begun “if a player has his or her feet or body close to a position where useful guidance on aiming at the intended target could be given.”
McCarthy was originally considered in this “guidance” position while taking practice swings, hence it was deemed his stance had begun and he was thus penalized. To further note: McCarthy then backed away with the caddie out of the way prior to hitting the shot, but that did not save him from penalty under the rule. It would have if this was a putt on the green, as an exception exists there.
Fortunately though, the penalty is no more. The USGA and R&A confirmed in their statement Saturday that upon further review, they had determined McCarthy had not begun to take his stance with his caddie back there. They determined the same in the Thomas situation.
Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president of competition, went on Saturday’s Golf Channel/NBC broadcast of the Waste Management Phoenix Open to offer more thoughts.
“We agree with the rule. The interpretation is a little different right now,” White said. “The bottom line is that we want to it right, we want it correct. For these guys (the players), it’s their livelihood.”
McCarthy originally was credited with a 4-under 67 on Friday and finished 36 holes at 6 under. Now with the removal of the penalty, that changed to a 65 and 8 under. He retroactively then began Saturday in a tie for ninth rather than at T-18.
He ended up shooting an even-par 71 on Saturday. After the round he offered his thoughts on how he felt about the original penalty: “Yeah, I tried to put it past me, but a bunch of people were texting me and sending me pictures of other players yesterday. And I called a rules official over this morning, just and showed them a couple videos of pictures that people sent me of other players doing exactly the same thing and I was trying to find out what the difference was basically. And he said there was no difference and that they just, they missed it. So, yeah, obviously it’s a great feeling to get those two shots back. Like I said, I tried to put it past me, I was in a pretty good frame of mind today, that made it a little better.”
It appears more clarification on the rule is coming soon.