COMMUNITY

I think the USGA should be DQ'd.

Last guy to do it was my boy John Daly. I always thought JD and Phil were unique

"it's just stupid seeing well made shots be punished so badly or a putt missed that should only roll 3-5' past the hole, rolls off the green." That's pretty much what I thinking when we played at Pinehurst #2 last year. Ethan, Jay and Daniel would probably say the same. But that's besides the point.

I forget who I was watching yesterday in round 3 but they hit a putt that literally went to the edge of the hole, practically stopped and then proceeded to make a hard right turn and roll 4-5 feet. Ridiculous! I get making the course a serious test but when it borders on stupid? Look at the conditions now. The greens are completely cooked and the rough surrounding the greens is clumpy at best. There's going to be a lot of players downing the USGA after their rounds and I'd bet viewership will take a nosedive compared with last year at Erin Hills. Yes, they're all playing under the same conditions but it's just bad.

DJ on 18.

Narrow fairways that will hold a good shot.

Second cut that will stop a ball rolling from the fairway before it enters the cabbage.

Deep rough that results in lost balls (no search parties).

Well guarded greens.

Green speed consistent with the design and smoothness of the green.

Long, long holes.

It's simple. Watch the damn weather channel before daily setup and pin placements.

If you cut the greens so short you kill the grass you're an idiot!!!!

Phil just can't complain about something in a normal way but has to go out of his way to make a statement(see Tom Watson). I do find it absolutely hilarious in how the ruling bodies, whether it be the Green Jackets or the USGA/R&A, rationalize how they do not DQ the big name stars.


Maybe they should rename this the Greenskeeper Revenge Open.

Phil had a message for all the people offended by his decision to hit a moving ball at the U.S. OPEN...."TOUGHEN UP" I, THINK PHIL SHOULD BE DISQUALIFIED. MAN UP PHIL . I, Love Phil, I'm a big fan. I, have lot's of friends that play golf and enjoy golf and play the ball where it lies, with a sense of humor.

The whole thing is way too overblown, first of all. I get this happened with one of the game's all-time greats, but he was out of contention, people started looking for symbolism in every little thing to get this to represent a greater meaning, and it was funny. Phil is dead on that anyone truly offended or bothered by this needs to toughen up, and I'll add, get a life. It's just golf. Get your panties out of a bunch if you're physically hurt because of this and realize it's just a game.

Now then. I don't believe a DQ is necessary based on 14-5, but 1-2 is not all that different. The verb "deflect" as 1-2 uses, is extremely vague and unclear. We all wanted the rules to be simplified, yet when the governing bodies finally did something about it, they changed a lot of things that didn't need simplifying. Not editing 1-2 and/or 14-5 in this case just shows the USGA is out of touch. I won't include the R&A in that because when was the last time we seriously complained about the way an Open Championship was conducted?

Lastly, I lost a lot of respect for Joe Buck, Paul Azinger, and Curtis Strange yesterday. I still like each of those three guys (even though Buck is awful at calling golf), but they made it sound like Phil pulled out a knife and stabbed a two year old girl in the gallery. The way Buck kept going after him during the broadcast made it sound like Phil pissed in his Cheerios at some point. It was weird and very annoying. I'd have greatly preferred them to focus on the leaders and not keep bringing the whole debacle up every 5 minutes after the final groups teed off.

I definitely thought that a couple times while we played that round. I think the difference is that there are times when you have a very exact margin of error. Pinehurst and Shinny are built to be two of those courses. But the speed at which the USGA had those greens yesterday made 15 and 18 unfair. I can understand an approach shot getting to a certain point, and then rolling 10-20 yards away, because it's all about having a precise target and hitting it to the exact right spot. Never during a putt, however, should a player have to worry about the ball going off the green unless he/she just hits an atrocity of a stroke.

Not to defend the USGA, but just to bring up a devil's advocate viewpoint, The Fried Egg, who is a very good blog to read blogs and social media from, made an interesting point that I can't argue in the case of 15. When Koepka hit his approach into 15 that rolled into the bunker, he went dead at the flag, which he did not need to do, and got punished for not hitting it in the correct area. Rose on the other hand went left of the flag, used the contours, and left himself a 10 foot birdie putt, which he made. The same guy from that group then cited a quote he used while previewing Shinnecock that is certainly valid (BEFORE THE USGA GETS A HOLD OF IT). "Playing Shinnecock is like stepping into the ring against Floyd Mayweather. The course doesn't rely on singular holes to deliver knockout punches but rather lies in wait for tactical mistakes ready to punish them."

I, understand what your saying & agree with you, but on the other hand what kind of message is Phil, send to our children's about golf. my 8 year old grandson ask me is it ok to cheat in golf? kids will remember you for this action

Is using the rules to maximize your advantage cheating?

That's what it comes down to I guess. If the rule says it's a two stroke penalty to hit a moving ball, he gets the penalty. That's just playing by the rules, even if they do happen to work in your favor. If the rule says that's 'unsportsmanlike conduct' or something similar that's justifies ejection then DQ him. Come to think of it, why doesn't golf have 15 yard personal foul penalties? That would simplify a great many things!

The one thing I will knock Phil on in this whole mess is that if he really wanted to take advantage of the rules, he'd have taken an unplayable, used stroke and distance, and putted for triple the same place he putted for bogey from. He wasn't trying to take advantage of any rule. He didn't wanna go down 30 yards off the green to hit his next shot for double, and went "LOL that's enough" because he was ready to move on.

He's a natural born cheater. He knew what he did was a DQ offense so he danced around the question when interviewed. My opinion. Oh, what about insider trading????? He seems to always find loopholes. Only people with bad intentions search for loopholes. I say we throw him under the bus.

What about the 29 people searching for DJ's ball in the rough during round 1? Did they exceed 2 minutes? That would be an obvious violation of the rules, yet we are not talking about it.