Ironically, the golf snitch who narced out Pagraig Harrington in 2011 wound up saving Tiger Wood’s ass at this year’s Masters. Back in 2011, while playing the seventh hole at the Abu Dhabi Championship, Harrington inadvertently brushed his ball while replacing his marker. He knew he had touched his ball but he didn’t think that it had moved as a result. He played on without consulting a referee. Meanwhile, somewhere in the world a person was watching on his HDTV, and using freeze-frame and rewind he was able to ascertain that the ball had moved. He then sent an email to the rules committee. After watching the replay about 60 times, the guy in charge of rules determined that the ball had rolled three dimples forward and only one and a half dimples back. Under the then-existing rules, Harrington had to be disqualified because he had signed his scorecard without listing the penalty he should have incurred.
Yet, every sentient being agreed that this was an injustice, so a new rule was put in place that allowed some discretion in the future. It was this new rule that was invoked to allow Tiger Woods to continue playing in this year’s Masters despite his having signed an inaccurate scorecard on Friday.
On Friday, Tiger Woods made a gigantic blunder in applying the rules of golf, a brain cramp unworthy of a veteran pro. Perhaps his incredible bad luck, watching a near-perfect wedge shot hit the flagstick, yet bounce back off the 15th green into the water, numbed him with shock. But his subsequent mistake, taking an improper drop, ultimately cost him two shots and will haunt and may doom his chances to win this Masters.
But that’s all he did wrong.
Woods was so unaware of his gaffe that he gave three TV interviews in which he described in detail what he thought was a smart piece of strategy but was in reality a clear violation of a rule so simple many hackers grasp it.
Initially, it was another golf snitch who notified the rules committee about Tiger’s improper drop. They looked at it and figured it was close enough. But when Tiger went on television and admitted the drop was intentionally improper, they had no choice but to penalize him. And because he had already turned in his card, the normal procedure was to disqualify him.
So, now a lot of people are debating this because they have nothing better to do. An intentionally improper drop is quite a bit different that an unintentional brush of the ball that moves it one and a half dimples. Would a lesser golfer have received the same leniency?
I bring this up because the alternative is to talk about North Korea or the budget, and I am sick of those subjects.
I don’t think it’s a matter of leniency, the PGA reviewed it before he signed the card and said it was legal. Then changed their mind after he did the interviews.
He got the appropriate penalty which was 2 strokes because if they would have ruled against him on Friday he wouldn’t have signed a bad card.
The PGA screwed up, it’s their fault.
If you’re looking for something fresh to discuss, I’ve been wondering why I haven’t seen you address the Trans-Pacific Partnership yet. It’s big, it’s important, it’s controversial, it sets heads on fire on both sides of the political spectrum, it affects domestic and foreign policy in a massive way, and the negotiations have been going on for years. Seems like you would’ve put together a few thoughts on the matter by now, but I can’t find a single hit on it searching the forum topics.
Or for a few somewhat lighter topics, borrow from Charles P Pierce April 12, 2013:
Keeping Up With The Pauls
Busted in Oregon continuation of the federal war on drugs.
Politico, trashing parents of dead children.
The GOP nutball of the day.
The Maine nutball governor.
Wall St. hanging out in the WH — again.
The Eduction Iron Lady.
David Brooks is still weird and insufferable.
Or Matt Taibbi’s report on Dan Loeb working both sides of the aisle to destroy public education and get really rich.
Ann Althouse has strong views on the matter.
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-misinterpretation-masters-and-tiger.html
wow, she sure does. Is she always that ridiculous?
No. Usually she’s worse.
ba-dum bum!
Wow. It’s more complicated than the Kennedy assassination.
something else to talk about, ok, again, someone explain to me how it helps Rubio to get in a celebrity beef with JayZ and Beyonce. cause other than the old Cubans in Florida & a bunch of ole white people in the GOP, who really cares about this?
also what percentage of Hispanic electorate are of Cuban descent? is “racist Che Guevera”. thing gonna help him with national Hispanic electorate?
also. when JayZ comes back at Rubio, will Rubio once again go at JayZ? Rubio is the one who comes out looking stupid in that scenario
Rubio: `Jay-Z Needs To Get Informed’ On Che Guevara
yeah I get that it’s his base in Florida, but even nationally, how many ole white people nationally even know or care ’bout jay z? I just don’t know why his people aren’t telling him to take the high ground & don’t get into the weeds with Jay-freakin-Z. dudes a Senator not some radio DJ. it’s just like GWB when he said he was real upset about what Kanye said after Katina. really GWB, u were the freakin POTUS, and Kanye “ima let u finish” West really hurt your feelings…REALLY!
More to the point, how many young white people don’t know or care about Jay-Z or Beyonce? Honestly, the whole dust-up just reinforces for young people not paying close attention to politics (some of whom do vote, and many of whom were not yet born when the Cold War ended) that the GOP is the party with a stick – make that an iron rod – up its ass. I’m enjoying it immensely.
plus how many songs and shit have been written bout Obama? you certainly would never expect Obama to engage in public policy disputes with Ted Nugent or Jon Voight now would you? the usual suspects would call it being beneath the office.
they gave him leniency…so what.
I honestly can’t think of an activity more boring and soul-deadening than watching golf on TV on a Sunday morning.
Oh, wait, yes I can – watching political talk shows talk about North Korea or the budget on Sunday morning. Surely there must be an infomercial somewhere… – wait, wasn’t that old guy who ran for president a few years ago just on the other network?
It’s amazing what money does to something that is peddled as fun.
Boo, congrats on finding one golf story that might be slightly more interesting than counting how many grains of rice are in a 10-pound bag.
Man, write one article about golf, and my whole ad profile changes.
If it’s any consolation, I’m still getting the same crap in Chinese as always.
I skimmed this post and wasn’t going to comment, but then I ran into a TV broadcast at a restaurant I was visiting where they said much of the same stuff.
Now, look, I haven’t golfed in 20 years, I was pretty avid about it for a while there, but kids arrived (severely cutting into free time) and wife quick work (eliminating discretionary income) and I haven’t swung a club since.
However, I know enough to know that this statement is utter bullshit:
but was in reality a clear violation of a rule so simple many hackers grasp it.
No, hackers don’t grasp that. Or frankly, any rule about drops, out of bounds, marking balls, adjustments, and use of aides such as towels.
No, the hackers I know cheated constantly, usually blissfully unaware, sometimes they knew but figured everyone else did too. No, I don’t mean cheating by miscounting strokes or retaking shots (“mulligans”) or moving the ball slightly for a better lie – ‘though a lot of golfers do those things. Instead, I mean by fudging the subtle rules of the game. What Tiger did – take a drop in a position that was actually farther from the hole but in a more advantageous location – is done at least hourly and probably far more often on every course in the land.
I was the weird one – always trying to follow the rules to the letter. It got so that my regular buddies would sometimes cheat for me. Like one time when I got a (incredibly rare) great drive down the center of the fairway, only to have the ball plow under a pile of cut grass that the mower hadn’t picked up – one of my buddies announced that I wouldn’t do it so he would, and he move the grass mound off my ball.
I don’t know why Tiger forgot the rule here – I’m sure he’s been drilled on it hundreds of times as a pro. But he obviously wasn’t aware he was cheating because he openly described what he did. In that way his knowledge was exactly on the same level as the millions of amateur golfers across the land.
Either way the nuclear option would be ineffective…