A Wild And Wacky Local Qualifier

Garry Smits reports on Monday's US Open qualifier at Sawgrass. It included a DQ for a non-conforming wedge and one player qualifying in spite of a one-shot penalty for slow play.

There also was a controversy over the FSGA's pace-of-play policy, which requires groups to not only finish their rounds in a given time, but finish within 15 minutes of the group ahead of them on both nines.

Six players in two groups didn't make the deadline of four hours, 40 minutes to complete 18 holes; and were more than 15 minutes behind the group ahead of them. Included was Harman, whose 70 was changed to a 71 with the one-stroke penalty. He angrily berated tournament officials for not giving his group a warning during the round. He qualified anyway.

Under the FSGA policy, initiated two years ago, warnings are not issued during play. Stroke penalties can be assessed at the turn and when a group finishes, and can be waived at the discretion of the committee if players were held up by rulings or having to look for lost balls.

"They received the pace-of-play policy in a packet mailed to them before the tournament, got another copy on the first tee, and the policy also is posted on six holes on the course," Dudley said. "There's no excuse for them not knowing it. They don't need warnings from rules officials to know what the policy is. All they have to do is read the information they've been given."

Sabbo, O'Hair Cat Fight Is Over Slow Play!

Considering that Sean O'Hair is a turtle and Rory Sabbatini is a rabbit, I'm not surprised by the revelation in Alex Miceli's look at the man-spat that broke out between the two PGA Tour giants.

According to sources, Sabbatini spent much of last Thursday and Friday complaining about the speed of play.  Eventually he asked O’Hair directly if he thought the speed of play was a problem and reportedly O’Hair said the problem was Sabbatini. Sources said O’Hair told Sabbatini that playing in a group with Sabbatini, a known speed-of-play advocate, was equal to a two-shot penalty for his playing competitors.

Steve Elling quotes Sabbatini after Wednesday's pro-am round, and he is playing dumb.

Pointedly asked after the pro-am if he was facing a suspension or under scrutiny, Sabbatini was equal parts defiant and testy.

"No, that is just all rumor, bud," he said. "You are going based on a rumor. How many times do I have to tell you?"

Pat Perez, the third player in the group in New Orleans, on Wednesday repeatedly declined to describe the altercation, which took place in a tee box during the second round.

"I am not going to be the guy on the front page," Perez said Wednesday at the tournament site. "It's for us to sort out."

There goes Pat's chances of winning the Jim Murray Award!

Christina Kim Takes Reader Questions On Abysmal Nabisco Pace Of Play

You have to love her honesty in answering reader comments on Twitter! Which playing partner is she referring to?

"A notice in Monday’s sports section would do more to speed up the circuit’s habitual snails than a private fine, and it would show the Tour is dedicated to stopping slow play."

Although Tim Finchem made a decent case for why the PGA Tour doesn't need the penalty/fine/suspension transparency found in other sports, Rex Hoggard points out the most glaring weakness of the Commissioner's argument.

That other sports embrace transparency over secrecy seems of little interest to Finchem.

“We are in a little different situation; that if a fight breaks out in the NBA between a couple of players and some fans, the commissioner pretty much needs to say, this is what I did to protect that from not happening again.”

But then if the Tour’s rules, like all laws, are aimed at prevention, then what harm would come from, say, publishing the complete list of “slow play” fines? A notice in Monday’s sports section would do more to speed up the circuit’s habitual snails than a private fine, and it would show the Tour is dedicated to stopping slow play.