PGA Championship

• bogey

  There are a ton of crazy rules in this game and for most people to sit down and read the USGA rulebook, it would seem like a foreign language. I have seen PGA Head Pro's at local courses have to pull out the HUGE rulebook because they couldn't make a 100% correct ruling using there personal knowledge or the pocket sized rulebook, so to blame DJ or his caddy in this instance on a course that gets played by these guys once every 5-10 years is not fair to either of them. It is absolutely obsurd to identify an area as a bunker in a professional golf tournament and then allow people to stand in it. If you are gonna i.d. them as bunkers, then I agree with everyone stating that every bunker on the course should have a marshal in charge of it to keep people out and rake it when it has been played out of. For crying out loud, David Feherty stood right there and couldn't positively i.d. the thing as a bunker, how the heck is DJ supposed to under those circumstances? Ridiculous!!!
• mattinctown

  I don't like the ruling, but at the same time there was a rules official there with Johnson, and his ball was ON sand, so he could have asked.........
• bogey

  matt, good point.....I guess from the everyday golfer's standpoint, I wish the rules official in a case like this, would give the information as the player approaches. On a different note, Bubba played his way onto the Ryder Cup team....I think that is awesome after watching his press conference at the beginning of the tourney and hearing what he and his family have been through.
• Skyhook79

  

  Its obviously a bunker I don't know what Johnson could have been thinking...............what a joke of a course rule.
  
  
  
• dazedconfused

  

  they either got to get a sign up marking each and every bunker on the course so that golfers know in case the patrons have been standing in them or do not allow spectators anywhere near the bunkers. that looked nothing like a bunker and more like an area that had been trampled down by the spectators
• bogey

  Skyhook, nice pic.....that has to make Whistling Straits look just great, look at all the garbage on the ground between DJ and the fairway! And I agree with ccrunner on this one, I want to hear what Golic and Greeny have to say about this one!
• bogey

  With that new info I say they replay the 3 holes tomorrow between Kaymer and DJ!!! Hahahaha. By the way, with this post, I have officially reached double digits!
• wildcats20

  

  ccrunner609;452462 wrote:I know one thing, I am going to root for DJ from now on. Him and Bubba are becoming my favorite golfers.
  
  Both deserve ryder cup spots.

  
  They are both on.
• bases_loaded

  

  ccrunner609;452543 wrote:Thanks, wasnt sure. Found the top 10
  
  1 Phil Mickelson 6,095.063
  2 Hunter Mahan 4,095.620
  3 Bubba Watson 3,894.319
  4 Jim Furyk 3,763.642
  5 Steve Stricker 3,697.976
  6 Dustin Johnson 3,573.804
  7 Jeff Overton 3,533.148
  8 Matt Kuchar 3,415.853
  9 Anthony Kim 3,274.684
  10 Lucas Glover 3,052.874

  
  The US is going to get get smoked this year....
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  Seeing as how its over there... ya the US will prolly get smoked.
• Laley23

  

  I dont blame Johnson, but I cant get over the fact he didnt ask...? I mean, the course has 1,200 bunker on it. If you arent in the fairway, you are likely in a trap. Then you are on sand. Why on Earth are you not assuming its a trap and asking to verify otherwise. The sheer odds are you are in a bunker.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  Laley23;452780 wrote:I dont blame Johnson, but I cant get over the fact he didnt ask...? I mean, the course has 1,200 bunker on it. If you arent in the fairway, you are likely in a trap. Then you are on sand. Why on Earth are you not assuming its a trap and asking to verify otherwise. The sheer odds are you are in a bunker.

  
  Most likely b/c he's been golfing forever and knows you let carts drive thru, and people walk on waste areas and not sand bunkers.
• Tiernan

  Screw job...plain & simple. Nobody ever hears of Martin Kaymer again but DJ becomes a golfing legend like Roberto DiVecenzo signing the wrong card at the Masters back in the day.
• lhslep134

  

  Don't understand the issue. If you read the local rule:
  

  "All areas of the course that were designed and built as sand bunkers will be played as bunkers (hazards), whether or not they have been raked. This will mean that many bunkers positioned outside of the ropes, as well some areas of bunkers inside the ropes, close to the rope line, will likely include numerous footprints, heel prints and tire tracks during the play of the Championship. Such irregularities of surface are a part of the game and no free relief will be available from these conditions."

  then it's pretty obvious DJ should have known.
  
  
  Also, from watching right away it looked like there was a defined lip to the upper right part of where he was hitting, not to mention that it was ruled after the 2004 PGA that every instance of sand there was considered a bunker.
  
  Regardless, you feel terrible for the guy, but at the same time, the situation could have easily been avoided by paying attention to either the rules sheet given out or the notice in the locker room (which I'm sure wasn't very noticeable).
• bases_loaded

  

  lhslep134;452831 wrote:Don't understand the issue. If you read the local rule:
  
  
  
  then it's pretty obvious DJ should have known.
  
  
  Also, from watching right away it looked like there was a defined lip to the upper right part of where he was hitting, not to mention that it was ruled after the 2004 PGA that every instance of sand there was considered a bunker.
  
  Regardless, you feel terrible for the guy, but at the same time, the situation could have easily been avoided by paying attention to either the rules sheet given out or the notice in the locker room (which I'm sure wasn't very noticeable).

  
  
  THIS...if anyone thinks DJ was thinking anything on that last hole they are crazy, dude had the lead and a stroke to give and he was pacing around like he had to take a piss on the tee waiting for the other group to clear. He pushes it right, walks up to the ball and grounds his club before pulling back because of a shadow issue. If he would of stepped back and took a breath at any point on that hole he most likely doesn't spray it right and this is a non issue. The rule was pretty well defined and this is on DJ and his caddy. Society is too easy on people, the guy fucked up, broke the rules, move on.
  
  As far as never hearing of Kaymer again as one chatterer proclaimed. He missed the cut at the Masters, finished 7th at the US Open and 8th at The Open after a 6th place finish at last years PGA. Not to mention he is only 25 years old, Im sure we will hear about him.
• lhslep134

  

  And Kaymer will be on European Ryder Cup Team.
  
  
  http://golf.fanhouse.com/2010/08/15/dustin-johnsons-pga-tale-of-woe-stupid-is-as-stupid-does/
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  No ones having a hard time understanding the rule.. just the PGA blew it with the rule.
  You don't let patrons walk thru sand bunkers.. those are waste areas.
• lhslep134

  

  ZWICK 4 PREZ;452884 wrote:No ones having a hard time understanding the rule.. just the PGA blew it with the rule.
  You don't let patrons walk thru sand bunkers.. those are waste areas.

  
  They made the rule specifically so this wouldn't happen, so there wouldn't be questions of whether it's a waste or sand bunker like there were in '04.
  
  
  Solution? Don't hit the ball 50 yards off the fairway 20 spectators deep into the crowd. With 1000 bunkers on the course, some of them are bound to be trampled.
  
  Someone on CBS brought up a great point yesterday, that no matter whether it was a waste bunker or sand bunker they never grounded their club just in case.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  lhslep134;452899 wrote:They made the rule specifically so this wouldn't happen, so there wouldn't be questions of whether it's a waste or sand bunker like there were in '04.
  
  
  Solution? Don't hit the ball 50 yards off the fairway 20 spectators deep into the crowd. With 1000 bunkers on the course, some of them are bound to be trampled.
  
  Someone on CBS brought up a great point yesterday, that no matter whether it was a waste bunker or sand bunker they never grounded their club just in case.

  
  Rope off bunkers or make them waste areas.. it's simple
  
  "Solution? Don't hit the ball 50 yards off the fairway 20 spectators deep into the crowd"
  
  lol r u serious dude? Not many people are in a position to question DJ's ball striking and sure as hell not u or anybody on this forum. You supposedly play golf frequently and still make a comment like this? lol come one.. i'd expect better from you.
  
  Sir Nick made that comment.. good for Sir Nick. The problem is, you're allowed to ground your club in a waste bunker so it doesn't matter of Faldo wanted to or not.
• bases_loaded

  

  DJ will never win a major until he gets the mental game down. See US Open and hole 18 at the PGA for examples. Hopefully playing the Ryder cup with someone like Phil or Tiger will help him learn to manage the pressure of the game. They kept showing the 18th tee box when McElroy was in the fairway and dude couldn't wait to get up there and whack the ball. He was pacing back and forth like he had to piss really bad.
• IggyPride00

  

  I feel for him. I've never seen fans in a bunker with a player. That was a little odd.

  That was a quote from Nick Watney afterward.
  
  The PGA of America clearly did not have control of this golf tournament if fans were romping around in areas that were supposed to be considered bunkers.
  
  They either need to fill some of these bunkers in before the next PGA, or rope all 1,000+ of them off because you can't have fans in bunkers during a professional golf tournament. Not when guys who've played hundreds of tournaments are saying they have never seen a fan in a bunker at any other course. If I was DJ, that alone would have been enough to make me not even think twice about it being not a bunker when I saw a couple hundred fans in it.
• IggyPride00

  

  
  
  CNNsi has had this picture up to illustrate the scene in and around the bunker. How in the world is that allowed to happen in a bunker during a Major Championship?
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  bases_loaded;452929 wrote:DJ will never win a major until he gets the mental game down.

  
  He's young, it'll come. Everybody here would be pissing down their leg with a 1 stroke lead in a major on 18. It comes with experience. My first chance of ever shooting under par was at Zoar and I put one in the driving range on 18 off the tee. I can only imagine what a major would feel like.
• bases_loaded

  

  ZWICK 4 PREZ;452971 wrote:He's young, it'll come. Everybody here would be pissing down their leg with a 1 stroke lead in a major on 18. It comes with experience. My first chance of ever shooting under par was at Zoar and I put one in the driving range on 18 off the tee. I can only imagine what a major would feel like.

  
  Was that before the new tee box? A little easier to hit driver now that the water is out of play but it is TIGHT down the right.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  bases_loaded;452973 wrote:Was that before the new tee box? A little easier to hit driver now that the water is out of play but it is TIGHT down the right.

  Nah, new tee box. I tried to go over the pines to cut the corner and I ended up in the middle of the driving range.