And you thought the guys at the USGA are bad.
They pale in comparison to the Rules Rubes at the good old PGA Tour.
You pretty much know the PGA Tour’s mantra by now — no penalties for slow play no matter how slow that slow play might be.
Another mantra of the PGA Tour is obvious — when controversy arises, bury one’s head in the sand. It might eventually go away — see Phil Mickelson and Billy Walters.
So last week the PGA Tour was faced with another full-blown controversy where basically one player flat out went on the record and said the guy he was playing with last Sunday at The National, cheated.
Joel Dahmen was just another little-known guy out there until last Saturday when he was paired with Tiger Woods. He racked up more television time in one day than he might for the rest of his career — combined.
But it was on Sunday when la merde basically hit the proverbial fan.
Dahmen was playing in the last round with Sung Kang and it was at the 10th hole at TPC Potomac when all hell broke loose.
Kang hit his second shot on the par five into the water hazard left but claimed he was entitled to drop his ball up close to the green.
Dahmen totally disagreed.
Enter ye old PGA Tour official and play came to grinding halt, so much so that the group in back of the Dahmen-Kang duo played through.
Seriously?
To make a long story short, Kang was allowed to drop near the green, much to the dismay of Dahmen, who later took to Twitter:
Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost.
Here’s the tour’s version:
“A PGA TOUR Rules Official handled the ruling, interviewing both players, caddies and marshals in the vicinity. The official then took Kang back to where he hit his second shot, and Kang confirmed his original belief that his shot had indeed crossed the margin of the hazard.
“With no clear evidence to prove otherwise, it was determined by the official that Kang could proceed with his fourth shot as intended, following a penalty stroke and subsequent drop. The PGA TOUR will have no additional comment on this matter.”
But it came to light that perhaps there was clear evidence to support Dahmen’s claim.
Remember that little dealie called “Shotlink?”
Dahmen’s claim was getting support that Sung Kang’s ball never crossed the hazard (and thus that he took an illegal drop) from the ShotLink volunteer who was working the hole.:
“Kang’s second shot was very far left and at no point ever came close to being inbounds from the initial point of entry 225 yards or so back,” Michael Klock told Golfweek earlier this week.
Klock also tweeted:
“He (Kang) sure did cheat. I was running SHOTLink on the green. That ball never came close to entering up where he dropped… Should’ve been 200 yards back. Told your caddie who told the rules official but Kang threw a fit and got his way.”
So once again the PGA Tour conveniently buries its head in the sand.
But that foul odor you detect is the poop on their shoes.
