Villegas DQ'd by TV viewer | USHandicap Classic

DavidHagen Professional Champion
Go to Last Reply 99 Views 10 Replies 1 Like
I was wondering if anyone else is getting tired of TV viewers calling in rules violations they observed while watching a telecast. Quite frankly I'm fed up with it. Can you imagine if someone called the NFL and said they saw a penalty that wasn't called and the Commissionor has a winning play overturned after the game is over and changes the outcome? Replay challenges can't even address penalties during a review. What about baseball, the Derek Jeter acting job where he pretended to be hit by a pitch when replays clearly show the ball hit the end of the bat. I think there has to be a line as to who can call a penalty. In this case it appears he was trying to gain an advantage by moving the stone. Let us use some common sense though. I mean it's ok for fans to move a 500lb boulder out of Tiger's way. It's time to look at who can and for how long after the fact a penalty can be called. Any thoughts here?
ArizonaBlue Professional Champion
# 1 1/9/2011 9:06:06 AM
IMHO, only players and rules officials on the course should be able to calling rules violations. However, this is not the view of the PGA Tour. See the story at the following link and note the statement by the PGA Tour about comparisons to other sports: http://www.pgatour.com/2011/r/..
Clay89 Professional Champion
# 2 1/9/2011 9:12:57 AM
I'm getting tired of the viewers getting involved as well. I agree with ArizonaBlue, the Tour Players and Officials should police themselves!
ParSeeker Legend
# 3 1/9/2011 9:34:39 AM
To me, the key differentiator that golf has hands down over other sports is the integrity of the game. It's ironic that you hear people howl because of a bad call changing the outcome of a sporting match and then in a case like this people admit it was the right call but take exception to the calls origination. The impact is harsh but unfortunately it can be difficult to distinquish between an innocent violation out of ignorance or one with intention to gain advantage, but either way there may be unfair advantage gained. Either change the rule or abide by the rule but please don't take competitive golf to the level of other sports where it is okay to wink and move on if you can get away with a rules violation.
cogolfer1 LowIndex
# 4 1/9/2011 9:44:08 AM
Same thought with Arizona and Clay.
MikeNomgi Professional Champion
# 5 1/9/2011 9:46:39 AM
If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it. Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf? Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game.
ParSeeker Legend
# 6 1/9/2011 10:03:40 AM
If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it. Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf? Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game. Mike, I agree and was working through a similar scenario. Arnold Palmer wins a match by a stroke. After the win an infraction is noted that was observed and reported by fan. If the infraction had been observed during the round by Arnold or a rules official Arnold would not have won the match. What do you think Arnold's reaction would be?
HIGH_LANDER Legend
# 7 1/9/2011 10:03:44 AM
Agree with Mike.Don't care who reports it.On the Link that ArizonaBlue posted.it stated: The Broader issue is how well players know their own rules.On a scale 1 to 10 probably a "5" Rocco Mediate said."And that's being Nice!.. Maybe the Golf Pro's should go to some kind of Rules Violations Training,at the start of the Season.Wouldn't Hurt.
MikeNomgi Professional Champion
# 8 1/9/2011 10:13:48 AM
If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it. Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf? Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game. Mike, I agree and was working through a similar scenario. Arnold Palmer wins a match by a stroke. After the win an infraction is noted that was observed and reported by fan. If the infraction had been observed during the round by Arnold or a rules official Arnold would not have won the match. What do you think Arnold's reaction would be? Loren, a situation very similar to the one you describe happened a number of years ago to Tom Watson. Apparently during one of the rounds, he took a drop from a water hazard. The day after the tournament which he won had ended, something caused him to question whether he had taken the drop properly. He called the lead rules official from the tournament and explained what he had done, and the official told him he had violated a rule, but since the tournament was officially concluded and all scores had been accepted by the committee, there was nothing that could be done. Watson, being the gentlemen and true believer in the spirit of the game that he is, donated all of his first-place winnings to charity.
ParSeeker Legend
# 9 1/9/2011 10:18:04 AM
If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it. Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf? Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game. Mike, I agree and was working through a similar scenario. Arnold Palmer wins a match by a stroke. After the win an infraction is noted that was observed and reported by fan. If the infraction had been observed during the round by Arnold or a rules official Arnold would not have won the match. What do you think Arnold's reaction would be? Loren, a situation very similar to the one you describe happened a number of years ago to Tom Watson. Apparently during one of the rounds, he took a drop from a water hazard. The day after the tournament which he won had ended, something caused him to question whether he had taken the drop properly. He called the lead rules official from the tournament and explained what he had done, and the official told him he had violated a rule, but since the tournament was officially concluded and all scores had been accepted by the committee, there was nothing that could be done. Watson, being the gentlemen and true believer in the spirit of the game that he is, donated all of his first-place winnings to charity. Bravo for Tom, I do recall hearing about that. I would have expected nothing less! Thanks for sharing that story Mike, you really did make my day.
irakemillions09 Professional Champion
# 10 1/9/2011 1:32:52 PM
If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it. Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf? Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game. I agree 110% Villegas should know the rules of the game given that it's profession and he's supposed to be the "professional". I like Villegas but he should have known better. A tough break for him this time..

DavidHagen

Professional Champion

Go to Last Reply

99 Views 10 Replies 1 Like

I was wondering if anyone else is getting tired of TV viewers calling in rules violations they observed while watching a telecast. Quite frankly I'm fed up with it. Can you imagine if someone called the NFL and said they saw a penalty that wasn't called and the Commissionor has a winning play overturned after the game is over and changes the outcome? Replay challenges can't even address penalties during a review. What about baseball, the Derek Jeter acting job where he pretended to be hit by a pitch when replays clearly show the ball hit the end of the bat.

I think there has to be a line as to who can call a penalty. In this case it appears he was trying to gain an advantage by moving the stone. Let us use some common sense though. I mean it's ok for fans to move a 500lb boulder out of Tiger's way. It's time to look at who can and for how long after the fact a penalty can be called.

Any thoughts here?

ArizonaBlue

Professional Champion

# 1 1/9/2011 9:06:06 AM

IMHO, only players and rules officials on the course should be able to calling rules violations. However, this is not the view of the PGA Tour. See the story at the following link and note the statement by the PGA Tour about comparisons to other sports:

http://www.pgatour.com/2011/r/..

Clay89

Professional Champion

# 2 1/9/2011 9:12:57 AM

I'm getting tired of the viewers getting involved as well. I agree with ArizonaBlue, the Tour Players and Officials should police themselves!

ParSeeker

Legend

# 3 1/9/2011 9:34:39 AM

To me, the key differentiator that golf has hands down over other sports is the integrity of the game. It's ironic that you hear people howl because of a bad call changing the outcome of a sporting match and then in a case like this people admit it was the right call but take exception to the calls origination. The impact is harsh but unfortunately it can be difficult to distinquish between an innocent violation out of ignorance or one with intention to gain advantage, but either way there may be unfair advantage gained. Either change the rule or abide by the rule but please don't take competitive golf to the level of other sports where it is okay to wink and move on if you can get away with a rules violation.

cogolfer1

LowIndex

# 4 1/9/2011 9:44:08 AM

Same thought with Arizona and Clay.

MikeNomgi

Professional Champion

# 5 1/9/2011 9:46:39 AM

If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it.

Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf?

Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game.

ParSeeker

Legend

# 6 1/9/2011 10:03:40 AM

If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it.

Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf?

Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game.

Mike, I agree and was working through a similar scenario. Arnold Palmer wins a match by a stroke. After the win an infraction is noted that was observed and reported by fan. If the infraction had been observed during the round by Arnold or a rules official Arnold would not have won the match. What do you think Arnold's reaction would be?

HIGH_LANDER

Legend

# 7 1/9/2011 10:03:44 AM

Agree with Mike.Don't care who reports it.On the Link that ArizonaBlue posted.it stated: The Broader issue is how well players know their own rules.On a scale 1 to 10 probably a "5" Rocco Mediate said."And that's being Nice!.. Maybe the Golf Pro's should go to some kind of Rules Violations Training,at the start of the Season.Wouldn't Hurt.

MikeNomgi

Professional Champion

# 8 1/9/2011 10:13:48 AM

If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it.

Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf?

Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game.

Mike, I agree and was working through a similar scenario. Arnold Palmer wins a match by a stroke. After the win an infraction is noted that was observed and reported by fan. If the infraction had been observed during the round by Arnold or a rules official Arnold would not have won the match. What do you think Arnold's reaction would be?

Loren, a situation very similar to the one you describe happened a number of years ago to Tom Watson. Apparently during one of the rounds, he took a drop from a water hazard. The day after the tournament which he won had ended, something caused him to question whether he had taken the drop properly. He called the lead rules official from the tournament and explained what he had done, and the official told him he had violated a rule, but since the tournament was officially concluded and all scores had been accepted by the committee, there was nothing that could be done. Watson, being the gentlemen and true believer in the spirit of the game that he is, donated all of his first-place winnings to charity.

ParSeeker

Legend

# 9 1/9/2011 10:18:04 AM

If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it.

Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf?

Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game.

Mike, I agree and was working through a similar scenario. Arnold Palmer wins a match by a stroke. After the win an infraction is noted that was observed and reported by fan. If the infraction had been observed during the round by Arnold or a rules official Arnold would not have won the match. What do you think Arnold's reaction would be?

Loren, a situation very similar to the one you describe happened a number of years ago to Tom Watson. Apparently during one of the rounds, he took a drop from a water hazard. The day after the tournament which he won had ended, something caused him to question whether he had taken the drop properly. He called the lead rules official from the tournament and explained what he had done, and the official told him he had violated a rule, but since the tournament was officially concluded and all scores had been accepted by the committee, there was nothing that could be done. Watson, being the gentlemen and true believer in the spirit of the game that he is, donated all of his first-place winnings to charity.

Bravo for Tom, I do recall hearing about that. I would have expected nothing less! Thanks for sharing that story Mike, you really did make my day.

irakemillions09

Professional Champion

# 10 1/9/2011 1:32:52 PM

If a player violates a rule, I don't care who reports it.

Imagine it's the back nine on Sunday at a major and a player commits an obvious rules infraction. Because of a new policy implemented by the Tour, officials ignore calls to tournament headquarters - yet the violation is witnessed on TV worldwide by tens of millions of people, and the player ends up winning a major by a stroke because a rules official or another player wasn't there to see the infraction, and the player didn't call himself on it. Is this what you want for golf?

Imagine the negative impact this would have on the integrity of the game.

I agree 110% Villegas should know the rules of the game given that it's profession and he's supposed to be the "professional". I like Villegas but he should have known better. A tough break for him this time..

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