Simon Dyson's DQ on the BMW Masters has renewed the controversy about whether viewers have to be able to "help" the officials catch policies violations. It's the same vintage tale -- Dyson tapped down a spike mark on his placing line, that's a clear violation, however nobody stuck it until a viewer called in several hours after Dyson signed his card. From what I've heard, it appears Dyson simply had a "mind fart" and did it absentmindedly, but it's nonetheless a violation of the guidelines.
And, as we've all come to be painfully conscious, the penalty for signing an wrong scorecard is disqualification.
Well, it's miles maximum of the time. The ruling our bodies of golf have agreed that, under certain conditions, the DQ penalty must be waived. (Tiger's incorrect drop at the Masters this year is one example.)
I think it is time the Rules of Golf entered the twenty first Century and the DQ penalty is removed -- properly, ordinarily removed. There are a few rule breaches for which a DQ is the ONLY prescribed penalty. In those cases, the DQ penalty have to be enforced as it usually has.
What I'm speakme about here are those pesky breaches in which you obtain a stroke penalty in case you trap it earlier than you signal your scorecard... Or get DQ'ed if you do not. The penalty for the rule breach is including strokes to your rating. The penalty is for signing an incorrect scorecard is a DQ.
It's the incorrect scorecard penalty that I want to see eliminated. If you're going to allow viewers to call in rule breaches -- viewers who may not even see the event until several hours after the round is over -- then you've got to remove the penalty.
Why turned into that penalty created in the first vicinity? Clearly it changed into to save you cheating. But within the present day game, we've electronic scorekeeping to maintain absolutely everyone sincere. My gosh, at many activities anybody's scores are continuously up to date on large scoreboards across the path!
But, extra importantly, having your peers and enthusiasts remember you a cheater is the kiss of dying for your career. Just reflect onconsideration on the fallout from Brandel Chamblee's gaff inside the final couple of weeks while he stated Tiger had been "...A touch cavalier with the regulations." The fact that Tiger's agent reacted so quickly -- and that Chamblee backpedaled simply as fast -- must be sufficient to make that clear. And with the ever-gift video cameras on the path to make certain the whole thing gets visible -- that no cheater has a practical danger of getting away with his crime -- the want for the DQ penalty in reality is not there anymore.
The solution for all this fuss is simple: Eliminate the DQ penalty for an incorrect scorecard and simply add the stroke penalties to each player's score once the infraction has been verified. It really is a simple solution that deals with all aspects of the problem:
- The field is "protected" because violations are enforced. Nobody wants to see the violations ignored.
- Because the infractions are on tape, it's a simple matter for both players and officials to go back and verify exactly what happened. Consequently there are fewer questions about the rightness of a ruling.
- And players don't get the sudden shock of arriving at the course for their next round only to find there will be no next round. Players don't mind taking the penalty for their errors... but they'd like the chance to correct their scorecards and avoid a DQ.
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