Rules are Rules...

[exedir]

We are a forgiving people, a people that believe in what's fair is fair.  Of course, what is fair is also in the eye or eyes of the beholder or those that benefit, but not necessarily for those that are penalized. And yet, what are rules for, if not to make it fair, for everyone.

Yesterday, a rule was broken. It is a well known rule that has been a part of the game of golf from almost the beginning and it is rule that seeks to make the golf fair, to seek no advantage by using misfortune.

Golf is, in the main, a personal game, played to match skills against the course as one plays the holes. And golf is also a business, a big business involving serious amounts of money to professional players, golf venues and the media, much less, an entire industry involving billions of dollars and millions of both causal and serious participants through out the world.

And yes, it was a rule that happened to Tiger Woods, a very serious participant in the game of golf, who is an industry in and of himself, involving hundreds of millions of dollars in covering his play and his life. And yes, Tiger Woods is responsible for continuing interest and the dollars generated by the play of professional golfers in the PGA and the tournaments held through the year.

Yesterday, was a serious day of competition of one of the most covered golfing events, The Masters Golf Tourament, in Augusta, Georgia. This year's event includes highlights of, the younest competitor ever, one of the most competitive leaderboards in the history of the event that includes one of the most beloved older competitors, Fred Couples.

The cause of what happened was an incorrect use of a dropped ball by Tiger after a most, most unfortunate event, an approach shot that hit the 15th hole's flag pole which caused his ball to ricochet off the green and into the water hazard. If the ball had not hit the flag, Tiger's approach would have been in a few feet of the hole with a possible birdie that would have moved Tiger back into the lead of the tournament. Instead, Tiger chose to drop his penalty drop ball a foot or so behind the place where he had hit the errant ball. This was inconsistent to the rule, that you have to drop on or arround where you strike the ball. By moving back a foot or two, Tiger violated the rule, and a violation of this rule is disqualification, if you do not recognize the error and sign a incorrect scorecard as the completed round.

And yes, this all happened after further review with recorded coverage by the rules committee that had to penalize Woods. It chose to not disqualifed Tiger, but impose a two-stroke penality and let Woods to continue to play in the tournament, even though the penality seriously decreased Tiger Woods chances to win. Clearly, the committee chose to keep Woods in the tournament and as such, the attention and interest of the patrons and the media.

As to fair, fair to who? But then again, it is a business, a big business at that.

[darroll]

They seem to have affirmative action in golf too.

[Bob Stepp]

I think if ya'll were to read the full, final statement from the PGA you might understand the reasoning behind the decision and quit implying that there was something improper going on.  Course it's more fun to speculate, isn't it???

[ozzieowl]

Oh, the Cartoonists are goanna have a `ball' with this one hey!

But seriously,  I get where your coming from exedir,  and I can totally see the `unfairness'

where some decisions are made, particularly when it is involving huge sums of $$$'s

Just imagine what would happen to the tournament providers if, 

after having been accused of unfair play, Tiger and his legal team decide differently

and act accordingly in today's world by employing legal repercussions to this -

yep, it's all about money and nothing else.