Clockgate Clippings
/Tim Rosaforte on Tiger's defiant press conference Tuesday at Hazeltine:
There is a Machiavellian side to Woods. He wants to take the power, but he doesn't want the power given to him. And this one was given to him. As he pointed out, had Harrington enough time to think this one through, slowed down a little, made no worse than bogey, it's still a golf tournament -- a one-stroke lead for Woods going to the 17th tee box.
Thomas Bonk on the rapid fire events surrounding Clockgate, notes:
As it turns out, the PGA Tour was quick to issue a four-sentence statement Tuesday after Woods' press conference at Hazeltine National. PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said that after reading what Woods had to say on Sunday, there was no disciplinary process started. Votaw also said the tour didn't find anything that was unreasonably disparaging in Woods' comments.
Connell Barrett gives us a flavor of the lively Tiger press conference and wonders, "Who was that Swooshed man?"
Steve Elling also points out Tiger's uncharacteristic "sarcasm and cynicism" and notes this:
The last player known to have been zapped with a penalty stroke was Dillard Pruitt, now a rules official himself, in 1992. Conversely, the European Tour is much more diligent about hitting tardy players where it hurts most -- on the scorecard.
European Tour rules official Andy McFee, also on the rules staff this week at the PGA, said his tour has assessed a total of 18 one-stroke penalties over the past 11 years.
"Not a lot, but it sends a message," McFee said.
And Jim McCabe uses the occasion to point out how this episode reminds us that the PGA Tour could adopt the USGA's pace of play policy for 12 10 of its 13 championships.
Of course, they are not truly addressing the pace-of-play issue and won’t be until they explore the successful “checkpoint system” that is in place at U.S. Golf Association amateur events such as the U.S. Junior, Girls’ Junior, Men’s and Women’s Public Links.
Competitors are told what their pace-of-play is expected to be, and there are checkpoints at the fourth, ninth, 13th and 18th holes. Miss a checkpoint, and you’re warned; miss two, and you’re penalized.
Lawrence Donegan considers the PGA Tour-no fine angle and offers this take:
If persistent gossip is to be believed Woods gets fined more than almost anyone else on tour for his various on-course antics. So why no fine in this instance?
I guess we will never know for certain, unless you are content to accept the "official" explanation. Other theories abound, or at least they do in places where golf journalists gather.
My own contribution to the swirl of conspiracy is the PGA Tour decided not to fine Woods perhaps because it is angry with Paramor - not for his original decision (which was taken with the agreement of the PGA Tour's rules head Slugger White) but because after Woods initial criticism he was happy to defend himself in public, and he did so in terms that were too blunt for the tastes of those who run the tour, who seem obsessed with presenting the world of professional golf as they would like it to be (ie. honorable and uncontroversial - a sponsor's paradise, in other words) and not as it actually is (ie. more complicated that that).
