Beman: "Why is it now so important to eliminate bifurcation?"

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I finally got a few minutes to take in the entire Deane Beman address (text version) from last week's USGA Pace of Play event, and besides enjoying the image of folks squirming as he talked bifurcation of the rules where the rulemakers reside (and steadfastly oppose bifurcation), you have to admire the dry wit.

Beman, most certainly never considered for a sidekick role on The Tonight Show, turned the tide on the bifurcation discussion by accepting that we already have it, and why are we the big, bad governing bodies trying to get rid of bifurcated rules?

The former PGA Tour Commish lays out the ways we are bifurcated now (grooves, one-ball rule) and writes:

Why is it now so important to eliminate bifurcation?  There is no evidence that bifurcation has hurt the popularity of our game -- just the opposite can be creditably advanced.  Golf’s popularity was surging in the 1950’s and 60’s when two different size golf balls were played around the world.  Don’t let the stance on bifurcation stand in the way of addressing some of golf’s problems.

He ties it into the slow play discussion and makes this point about longer, narrower courses in championship play making their way into the everyday game:

The problem of slow play, as well as the decline in the growth and financial viability of golf in the U.S., has some of its seeds from the well-intended notion that in order to identify “a worthy champion” in major championships, it was necessary to alter the playing field to accomplish that objective.

The Red Sox won the World Series and they are the undisputed world champions of baseball.  Baseball did not feel the need to add another 10 feet to get to first base, grow longer grass in the infield or move the home run fence farther out.  They also have bifurcated rules that allow a designated hitter in one league versus the other and were able to make a mutual accommodation for the World Series for the good and harmony of the game.  None of these actions would lessen the crown that Boston wears or harm baseball as a popular sport.

Video: Simon Dyson DQ Incident At BMW Masters

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GolfCentralDaily has posted the video and they express sympathy for Simon Dyson after he tapped a mark of some kind in his line.

It's an obvious violation, one that tour players get around daily by pretending to fix a ball mark. So in that sense, yes, the rule is silly. But he still should not have done it. He was not available for comment after the round.

The video:

Oscillategate Moves To The Forensic Analysis Stage

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Before we get to the photos of Tiger's BMW ball move sent in by a reader, we have more analysis from a variety of corners.

Ewan Murray in The Guardian:

There are those who remain quick to denigrate both the game of golf and Woods himself at any available opportunity. Golf is treated as a chummy closed shop by its' critics and Woods's public profile will never recover from the misdemeanours which wrecked both his marriage and place in American sporting hearts. Yet even through that, his integrity when at his place of work was never subject to question.

Woods famously insisted he didn't "get to play by different rules" in 2010 in relation to his personal life. In the context of his golfing life, it is safe to say 2013 has now been overshadowed by a clutch of instances in which the finest player of a golfing generation should have known better.

Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker were more sympathetic, reports Ryan Lavner who quotes Furyk as saying he "didn’t realize that ball moved" and this from Stricker:

“The rules are tough,” Steve Stricker said, “and there’s always a fine line between oscillating and moving. A player can see it as one thing and the camera is going to obviously pick it up differently. … It’s unfortunate that he’s been at the center of this about three times this year. I don’t know why, if it’s just because all the TV is on him or what.”

And while many of us struggled to see the move in the first version, the zoom-in by Golf Channel was more clear and this screen grab by a reader who asked to remain anonymous does show the ball moving, not oscillating. The reader writes:

Even in this pixillated version from the original video you posted the ball clearly settled relative to the stick in front of it from this perspective, by at least one dimple in both the full-screen and blow-ups after Tiger moved piece of leaf litter or whatever he touched..  That is well within the visual resolution of any golfer and is why Tiger stopped.  He had to see it.  Had the ball oscillated, the left and center pieces of mud on the ball would have moved or rocked back up.  They didn’t.

Click on the image to enlarge: