Finally: some Rules Officials with good sense on Wie DQ
Some of you are sick of the whole Michelle Wie disqualification, I know. I promise this is my last post -- after this, I'm done. I think we can put the issue to bed now, after we've finally had a Rules Official speaking publicly and critically about the disqualification.
The Royal & Ancient, the oldest rules governing body in golf, seems to be indicating that it would have handled things differently. And the R&A places most of the blame for the whole fiasco on SI Reporter Michael Bamberger (aka the guy in the pink shirt).
R&A Assistant Secretary of Rules Grant Moir stated, "We feel very strongly that Michelle should not be hung out to dry over this....What Michelle did was not intentional and not a serious breach of the rules. Michelle thought she knew what she was doing and went ahead with the drop on her own. At her first attempt, she thought she had dropped closer and so she dropped again, which tells its own story as to how she was attempting to get it right."
"If Bamberger had done the right thing in reporting the incident before Michelle had signed her card that day, she would have been given the appropriate penalty of two shots and there would have been no mention of disqualification. If he felt at the time that he had witnessed a breach and was sufficiently sure of himself to raise it, he should have found an official at once. He should have known just how serious it would be for Michelle if he hung on to the information until the following day."
11 Comments:
Michelle broke the rules. The crucifixion of Bamberger needs to end, as it's only served to distract people from the fact that Michelle broke the rules.
Her improper drop height could have been a one-stroke penalty or a DQ, too. So not only did she break the rules, she broke them twice.
"The R&A" didn't say anything, a member of the R&A said something. Big difference.
I can imagine why Michelle was crying during that so called "recreation" after finding the video replay inconclusive.
Smith: Michelle, you got to tell me where you dropped the ball yesterday.
Michelle: I can't remember the right spot. I don't want to guess.
Smith: The rules of golf says that you have to state where you dropped the ball for it to be fact.
Michelle: Waaahhhh. I guess it's over here?
Smith: Can't tell if it's closer from here. Let's pace if off. Nope. Can't tell. Let's use the strings. Yep, its closer to the hole. Sorry, you're DQed.
If you have to use a measuring device to figure it out, how the hell do you expect Michelle to think she did something wrong?
If every player had to call an official for every drop they make, the game would take forever to finish!
And, that Hamburger guy (Mr. Integrity) ought to reimburse Ms. Wie the money she shouldn't have lost had he reported his observation on time. I'd believe him if he coughs up that money he cost that kid.
There was no conclusive evidence to prove that Michelle broke any rules.
Even her drop height being too low is inconclusive. It looks different depending on the camera angle.
A couple men have written in attempting to justify Michelle Wie's DQ by arguing that she clearly dropped the ball with her arm below shoulder level.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen...that was not the LPGA's official basis for the DQ. It only hurts your argument if you have to now go grasping for other alleged rules infractions that the LPGA did not even rely on. It just shows the shakiness of the official reason.
In the law, this kind of abuse of argument is routinely tried, but routinely rejected. Courts have something called the "waiver" doctrine under which you can't raise a new issue way after the court has already ruled. Here, the LPGA Rules Official ruled the drop was closer to the hole, not that the drop was below her shoulder. The LPGA had better sense to know that shoulder height rule would've been even a flimsier leg to stand on in the public's view.
The point about the height of the drop is that Michelle Wie was at best very sloppy in her drop procedure. You can not look at the one SI photo and say anything other than it sure appears she may have dropped from below shoulder level. I have seen the drop height from two angles and if I had to vote legal, illegal or too close to tell, I would have to go with illegal.
I can see the point of your post if she had not been DQ'd and we were arguing she should have been but she was DQ'd and the LPGA is not going to reverse that or ammend the decision to include the drop height.
AndrewsDad, do you happen to be Morgan Pressel's dad also?
I would not know Pressel if I saw her.
I know I may sound like a harsh critic of Michelle Wie but she decided to play pro events even with an am record that was substantially less impressive than Pressel or Creamer and everyone is ok with that. She took the big money endoresments when she became pro before winning anything and everyon is ok with that. Now when she gets nailed with a rules infraction, eveyone wants to lay the blame on everyone except for the person who made the drop. She is a professional golfer, sure she is only 16 but we need to decide if we are going to apply the rules equally to all players or not regardless of age and last time I checked, there was not age exemption for the rules.
Do I agree that the rules violation should have been reported sooner, sure. Do I think the SI reporter had ulterior motives, no. Do I know for a fact that she dropped closer to the hole, no I do not but a rules official determined she had. It did look to me that she dropped from a height lower than allowed by the rules and I can not see how anyone who has looked at the SI pictures and the video I saw and come to another conclusion.
I want to see Michelle Wie do well and for once contend to win something. Be in the hunt at the end of the tourney. Its really frustrating to get all excited to see the last round of the US Open only to see she is out of the running before the Sunday coverage begins. To see her play the weekend only to make a double with 4 holes to play because she wants to show up a player in the board ahead of her. She is just making it really hard for me to be a fan of hers.
crucifixion of Bamberger definately ought to continue!
crucifixion of Bamberger ought to continue! Bamberger's an Idiot!
If I was 8 over and wanted to get positive I'd have done what
Wie what can we say? If I was 8 over par and wanted people to feel sorry for my poor performance I'd get sick to. She is getting old fast and her father knows it! Wie's father knows how to milk every minute of Wie's day! Remember 16 year old Ty Tyron? Made PGA news and turned pro. Where is he today?
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