Lehman In Long Putter Lash-Out: "What I do know is that the USGA and their testing with the ball...fell asleep at the wheel"

Asked at the Ace Classic by Adam Schupak about the long putter and anchoring...nothing like a good rant!

TOM LEHMAN: My thought is they've picked the wrong thing to fight against and they've done it about 15 years too late. To make an issue about this when they should have made an issue about the balls or clubs 15, 20 years ago is ridiculous. That's my opinion. I think it's just fine.

If there were this method of putting where it was foolproof and you couldn't miss and it just turned this whole game into a joke because it was so simple and so foolproof, I would say, you know what, that's probably worth looking at. The long putter, the belly putter have helped guys who have struggled to keep their careers intact or bring them back from the depths, but it's not a foolproof way.

Q. Did you ever think you would see so many guys on the PGA TOUR, young guys, using it, the belly?

TOM LEHMAN: I hadn't really thought much about it. To me it's a nonissue. It really is. I don't think it's an issue at all. If I were the head of the USGA, I wouldn't even give it a second thought. I wouldn't. That's how strongly I feel about it.

But there are people who feel strongly the other way. I respect that. It's not traditional. Whether or not anchoring a club to your body in some way is breaking a rule, I don't think it is or else it would have been outlawed a long time ago. It's a matter of opinion. What I do know is that the USGA and their testing with the ball and that stuff a long time just completely fell asleep at the wheel and let it get out of control. There you have it.

Q. When you first started using a longer putter, what type of reaction did you get out here?

TOM LEHMAN: No reaction. You know, there was no big deal. I don't mean -- look, I don't know because I don't read the magazines, but I don't believe there's a whole bunch of players out there going crazy and hooting and hollering because some guy's using a belly putter. I don't think. I think it's more made up with maybe the press and the USGA or whoever, but I don't see a lot of players out there picketing, I'm not going to play if the belly putter's allowed this week. I don't see it. Maybe it's there, I just don't know. Maybe you can tell me. Are there a lot of players upset about it? Maybe there are. There aren't, are there?

Q. No, the guys who used the belly putter or long putter on the TOUR last year who won, the best (inaudible) was like 55th.

TOM LEHMAN: That's my whole point right there. This is such a nonissue in my opinion that it's almost comical to be debating.