Rules Under Fire (Again): "We have a lot of stupid rules in golf."

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Matthew Rudy on the Carl Pettersson violation Sunday at the PGA which led to a two-shot penalty. Here is the PGA of America's statement.

Pettersson was not pleased after the round:

"I double checked with the official to make sure I could brush the grass as long as I didn't put any weight on the ground with the clubhead, and he said sure," said Pettersson about his shot on the first hole. "I wish he would have mentioned the leaves, too. I was just trying to hit the ball. I didn't even think twice about it."

After getting the notification from Davis, Pettersson was visibly annoyed. "I've got to take it on the chin, obviously. I broke the rule there," said Petterson. "I don't think it effected the outcome of the shot. It's just one of those things. We have a lot of stupid rules in golf."

Rex Hoggard included this from Feherty:

Golf Channel’s David Feherty, who was the walking analyst with the group on Sunday, was more pointed in his assessment of the rule.

“Why don’t professional golfers make rules for professional golfers?” Feherty asked. “We’re the only sport that allows amateurs (to make rules). It’s not working for me if a guy is trying to make a living. A major championship may have hung in the balance.

“That (rule) is designed so an amateur doesn’t drag his club back and make a channel for themselves. What do you think would happen if a pro did that out there? I think we can account for that. How are you supposed to make a backswing? Use the club like a spear?”

Still no video of it on YouTube or PGA.com's PGA Championship site. If anyone sees an online version of the violation, please post a link.

U.S. Women's Amateur Winner Is Thinking About Going To College Someday

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Beth Ann Baldry on Lydia Ko, 15 years old, winning the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Not so fast, Ko said. The 112th U.S. Women’s Amateur champion wants to go to college. Her “role models” are Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson (a subtle reminder that she’s 15), but she doesn’t want to follow their career paths. Ko wants to play college golf.

“There are so many people in New Zealand that go to college overseas,” Ko said, “and I think that kind of inspired me.”

Last year Ko visited Stanford, but the academic regimen might prove too touch. She’s rethinking her options. Ko misses so much school in New Zealand that even when she’s in class the teacher sometimes marks her absent out of habit.

2012 PGA Championship: Your Kneejerk Reactions

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Rory McIlroy salvaged an otherwise forgettable week with an awesome display of power and short game brilliance. As with his Congressional performance, the combination of distance and accuracy with the driver on Sunday along with 24 putts, was something to behold.

It was an abysmal logistical week for the PGA of America and for telecast partner CBS, but they've been doing this with the telecast for a decade and there is no reason to think they will put substance over promotion anytime soon. It's a shame they took away from the grandeur or Rory's performance.

Your kneejerk reactions as the happy scribblers prepare to wow us with insights into Rory's domination, David Lynn's bio, Carl Pettersson's penalty and Tiger's peculiar weekend?

PGA Explanation On Carl Pettersson Penalty

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Still waiting for video to appear on YouTube. Here's the PGA of America explanation:

Carl Pettersson was assessed a two-stroke penalty on the first hole of the final round of the 94th PGA Championship for a breach of Rule 13-4c when he moved a loose impediment lying in a lateral water hazard, while his ball was lying in the same hazard.

Pettersson hit his tee shot into the lateral water hazard to the right of the fairway. Before making the stroke, he asked the walking official, Brad Gregory, if he was allowed to touch grass, in the hazard, with his club, prior to the stroke.

Pettersson was correctly informed that he could do so, provided that he did not ground the club in the hazard. In making his backswing, Pettersson’s club brushed the grass behind the ball (not a breach) and at the same time moved a leaf (loose impediment), in breach of the Rule.

Pettersson was immediately notified by Gregory that there may have been a breach of Rule 13-4c, and that he (Gregory) wanted the stroke to be reviewed on video for confirmation.

PGA Rules Chairman, David Price, reviewed the stroke on video and confirmed that a loose impediment was moved during Pettersson’s backswing.

Pettersson was notified of the penalty as he left the fourth tee. His score for the par-4 first hole was a 6.

PGA of America Rules Committee.

2012 Kiawah Classic Final Round Open Comment Thread

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The inaugural Kiawah Classic hasn't been without flaws, as...oh what?

Sorry, this is the final round of a major, Glory's Last Hoorah Before Everyone Forgets For Another Year That Our Fourth Major Does Not Measure Up To The Rest.

Here's the leaderboard after third round play was completed, followed by the tee times:

12:50 pm Geoff Ogilvy Keegan Bradley Marcel Siem

1:01 pm Graeme McDowell Jamie Donaldson Ian Poulter

1:12 pm Jimmy Walker David Lynn Padraig Harrington

1:23 pm Peter Hanson  Vijay Singh  Tiger Woods

1:34 pm Trevor Immelman Adam Scott Steve Stricker

1:45 pm Rory McIlroy Carl Pettersson Bo Van Pelt

2012 Fourth Of Four Majors, Third Round Completion Open Comment Thread

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7:45 a.m. restart, 4:45 a.m. in the time zone where it doesn't rain in August. TNT will be airing the completion of round three starting at 8 a.m.

We'll start a new thread for the afternoon threesomes when CBS reminds us of all the swell new shows they'll be airing this fall.

And because, according to PGA.com, "Sunday is shaping up as one of the biggest days in major championship history." (Screen shot, right, courtesy of reader Lloyd.)

Phelps Shifting From Coach Bob To Coach Hank

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For Immediate Release...

ORLANDO, Fla. (Aug. 11, 2012) – Recently crowned the most decorated Olympian in history with an astonishing 22 career Olympic medals, U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has plans for the next stage of his career: to play the world’s greatest golf courses and improve his golf game under the watchful eye of Golf Channel’s Hank Haney. The Haney Project will chronicle Phelps’ attempts to improve his game from tee-to-green with the guidance of Tiger Woods’ former swing coach when the hit original series returns for a fifth season on Golf Channel – television’s fastest-growing network among those servicing more than 80 million homes – in February 2013. The announcement was made today by Phelps and Mike McCarley, President, Golf Channel.

"I have traveled the world through swimming, but really haven’t had an opportunity to experience the world through my travels," said Phelps. "As I enter this next chapter of my life, I think I will be able to shift my competitiveness to anything I put my mind to and golf is one of the things I want to focus on. If I have a goal of dropping a certain amount of shots, or working on my short game or putting, those things are going to keep me motivated and fire me up and keep me excited. I want to play all the world's great golf courses, but I'd like to play them well. I'm excited about this project with Golf Channel and I’m looking forward to working with Hank and see what we can do together on the golf course."


"We look forward to chronicling Michael's transition from the most-decorated Olympian in history to a frustrated golfer trying to enjoy playing the world’s greatest golf courses,” McCarley said. “Golfers everywhere will be able to relate to his quest to improve his game.”

Production for fifth season of The Haney Project will begin in September.

Phelps, who received a pegboard featuring the world’s greatest golf courses as a Christmas gift last year, will follow other celebrity students who have starred on The Haney Project, including NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley, Emmy Award-winner Ray Romano and Grammy Award-winning Maroon 5 front man and mentor on NBC’s “The Voice” Adam Levine. Host of the annual Michael Phelps Foundation Golf Classic, Phelps will begin filling the pegboard when production begins in September.

Each episode of The Haney Project will follow Phelps on his quest to play better golf, whether it’s one-on-one instruction on the golf course with Haney or developing lessons he will be able to practice on his own. The series also will showcase Phelps in his own environment with cameos by famous friends and other experts who check in on him during his journey, including his mother, Debbie Phelps, and Bowman. Subway, which has a long-standing partnership with Phelps as one of its “Famous Fans,” will be joining as one of the charter sponsors of The Haney Project’s fifth season.

The first season of The Haney Project, which starred Charles Barkley in 2009, marked the highest-rated launch of an original series at that time. Earlier this year, the series joined Feherty to create a new Golf Channel primetime Monday lineup, which boosted viewership by more than 20 percent over the same time period in 2011 and more than 60 percent over 2010.

2012 Glory's First Shot-To-Promote-The-CBS-Fall-Lineup, Third Round Open Comment Thread

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It's back, annually the worst golf telecast of the year, CBS and the PGA of America joining forces to show you as little golf as possible and as many plugs, promos, paybacks and other nonsense.

Big questions for Saturday: will Jim Nantz be able to muster the necessary enthusiam for the first How I Met Your Mother promo?

Will the 3 p.m. start time for the leaders, when mixed with the weather forecast, cause problems?

TNT starts at 11 ET, CBS starts showing something resembling a golf telecast at 2 ET, but if you have a DVR, you can start watching at 3:30 ET by and be caught up with the actual golf by 4 ET.

Armchair Officials: Will 13-2 Come Into Play This Weekend?

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With Michael Hoey having the first mishap related to the different rules this week for the sand areas, reader Jerry wondered how many times Rule 13-2 has been or will be violated by players treating bunkers as they normally would by digging in and building a stance.

Since any sandy area is treated as through the green, doing so would be a violation as outlined in 13-2:

13-2. Improving Lie, Area of Intended Stance or Swing, or Line of Play

A player must not improve or allow to be improved:

• the position or lie of his ball,

• the area of his intended stance or swing,

• his line of play or a reasonable extension of that line beyond the hole, or

• the area in which he is to drop or place a ball, by any of the following actions:
• pressing a club on the ground,

• moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed (including immovable obstructions and objects defining out of bounds),

• creating or eliminating irregularities of surface,

• removing or pressing down sand, loose soil, replaced divots or other cut turf placed in position, or
• removing dew, frost or water.

"So at least we don't have to play this golf course with this much wind with balata balls. That would have been interesting."

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Some of us get frustrated with Tiger press conferences because he either intentionally holds back his golf knowledge or doesn't make the effort to take a question and use it to show off his insights. And of course, some insights he obviously must keep to himself to retain an advantage.
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Carnage At Kiawah Leads To Record High Scoring, Club Pro Humiliation, Inability To Finish 36 Holes On Time!

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Doug Ferguson about summed up the brutality of Kiawah during the PGA's second round with this:

One score in the 60s, two in the 90s.

Of the 41 players who failed to break 80, nine of them could be found among the top 50 in the world ranking.

Through 11 hours of relentless wind, with gusts up to 30 mph that turned the Atlantic Ocean choppy with white caps, about the one thing that looked vaguely familiar was Tiger Woods making one putt after another. He had a 1-under 71, one of only four rounds under par on the Ocean Course, to share the lead with Vijay Singh and Carl Pettersson going into the weekend.

Just like that, the major known as "Glory's Last Shot" turned into one last chance for Woods to finally win another major.

"I thought going out today, anything even par or better was going to be a good score," Woods said. "So I went out today and I accomplished that. It was a tough, tough day. It was blowing all day. I don't think anyone had an advantage."

Jeff Babineau had this:

The cut will fall at 6 over, and there were more scores in the 90s on Friday (two) than in the 60s (one, Vijay Singh). Somewhere, we are pretty sure, Pete Dye was in front of a television set, grinning broadly.

Four of the course’s toughest six holes resided in that stretch from 5-13, including both the toughest (the par-4 13th) and second toughest (par-4 ninth). Heck, even the two par-5 holes in that span exacted their pound of flesh, with Dustin Johnson making triple bogey at the seventh.

“I missed the putt for 7,” he said, “and that equals 8.”

Johnson was told by reporters that 6 over, which is where he stood after rounds of 71-79, likely was going to be good enough to make the cut and play two more rounds. Would that a good or bad thing, he was asked.

Johnson smiled. “I decline to comment,” he said.

Ryan Herrington on one of the many club pros who posted big numbers in the brutal conditions.

Brett Avery with the numbers:

4. The field scoring average for the second round was 78.107 when play was halted at 8:16 p.m. with Joost Luiten the only player on the course. Regardless of how Luiten plays the 18th hole Saturday morning, the second round will rank as the highest day in a PGA since the first round in 1958 at Llanerch (76.8). It also will be the highest round in a major since the closer of the '04 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills (78.727), followed by the first round of the '99 British at Carnoustie (78.314). This year's second round also finishes slightly below the first round of the 1993 Buick Invitational (78.383).

And Then There Were Four Sub-Par Rounds Friday At Kiawah

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After Michael Hoey signed for his 70 at Kiawah, he thought about it and then contacted officials concerning not replacing his ball correctly. It happened late in the day, so details in his unbylined AP story are thin, but what an admirable act from the Northern Irishman.