Written by: Darin Green, Senior Director of Rules & Competitions
It is May, and that means that the FSGA is running full throttle with USGA qualifying, FSGA qualifying, state championships, and Florida Junior Tour events. I have been on the road a lot over the past few weeks officiating competitions, and I have been involved with several rulings. Below are some of the rulings. Enjoy!
U.S. Women’s Open Qualifying at Sugar Mill Country Club
Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open is a 36-hole qualifier held on one day. Players play a morning round and an afternoon round for two spots in the U.S. Women’s Open being played at Erin Hills in a couple of weeks. Getting 36 holes and likely playoffs completed in Florida with May weather is always a tough challenge. So, as you can imagine, pace of play is critical.
Early in the first round, the Officials on the back nine noticed a group over the set maximum allotted time and out of position with the group ahead, so they began monitoring the group, which means timing the players and observing the group in hopes of identifying the reason(s) for the group to be over time. Two highly qualified Officials agreed through timing and observation that one player was solely responsible for the group being over time. The group missed their pace checkpoint after the 18th hole (their 9th hole of the round), and the Tournament Chairman informed the player on the next tee that she is liable for a one-stroke penalty. When the group completed their round, the Tournament Chairman confirmed with the player that the one-stroke penalty applied to the 18th hole.
Pace-of-play penalties almost never go over easily, even though to the Officials it is usually black and white. The player and her caddie did not take the penalty well, and a confrontation began. Eventually, they left and started their second round. However, after their second round was completed, they struck up another confrontation with Officials. I eventually stepped in to hopefully calm things down, but the caddie made personal attacks. I quickly ended the conversation, and they eventually left.
I never understand how some people can get so upset over a one-stroke penalty that, at the end of the day, accounted for less than 1% of the player’s score over two rounds.
U.S. Senior Open Local Qualifying at Vero Beach Country Club
It was a hectic morning, to say the least!
I was helping at the player registration as the first several players began showing up. As I was passing out the hole location sheets, I noticed that the hole location sheet displayed the 9th hole as 2 paces in front of the green and 2 paces to the right edge, meaning that the hole location was barely on the putting green. I knew that wasn’t correct, so I informed the Tournament Chairman who said it should be 24 paces from the front edge and 8 paces from the right edge. We made a sign that indicated the correction to the players.
Then I went out to do course setup on the front nine, which means I set the tee markers and made sure the course was ready for play. The course was in excellent condition, and everything looked great until I reached the 9th hole. The hole location was cut 24 paces from the front edge, but 8 paces to the left edge, not the right. I contacted the Tournament Chairman and he then contacted the Superintendent, who then came to the green to cut a new hole in the correct spot (8 paces from the right edge).
As the Tournament Chairman and I were standing on the 9th green, the starter on the 10th called over the radio and said he was missing a player who had about 4 minutes to get to the starting tee. The Official at registration said the player had checked in, meaning he should be on-site somewhere. I quickly drove my cart to the practice area and began announcing his last name in hopes I’d find him and quickly drive him to the 10th tee. No one responded to my calls. I then drove over to the 10th tee and the group was started on time, but the player was still missing. I drove back to the turn stand and noticed a player standing behind an oak tree marking his golf balls. I asked the player his name, and of course, it was the missing player (he thought his tee time was 8:34, but it was actually 8:24). We quickly got the player up to the tee about 4 minutes after his starting time, and he joined the two players in the fairway. I made sure the scorecards were in the correct hands and that the player and scorecard marker were aware that the player receives a two-stroke penalty for being late to the starting tee.
I then pulled over into the trees off of the 10th fairway to wait for the next group to tee off. As the next group approached the fairway, a caddie called me over and asked, “Why is a player in his group riding in a cart?” I said, “What?” and the caddie pointed to a player who was driving his own cart. (The U.S. Senior Open is a walking-only event; however, caddies may rent a cart to transport equipment.). I confirmed with the Tournament Chairman that we did not have anyone in the field with a medical exemption and then approached the player and asked him why he was riding in a cart. The player responded, “When I arrived, I saw several people in carts, so I went inside and rented a cart.” I then informed the player that this is a walking-only qualifier and only caddies may rent a cart, and you need to get off that cart and walk the rest of the round. And, regrettably, you breached the transportation rule and incurred a two-stroke penalty, which must be applied to the 10th hole (his first hole).
Several hours later, a player approached me with a rules question. He said on the 5th hole his ball was on a coquina/crushed shell cart path, and he thought he was entitled to free relief, so he picked up his ball and dropped it about a club-length off the path into the grass. Another player in his group then told him that those coquina/crushed shell paths are not free relief (we were playing them as integral objects). So, the player replaced his ball on the path and continued play. He asked me what the penalty was, and I first confirmed the player’s actions and then informed him that his actions resulted in a one-stroke penalty to that hole (Rule 9.4a and Rule 14.5b (3)). He thought it was going to be a two-stroke penalty, so he was happy to hear it was only a one-stroke penalty.
U.S. Women’s Open Qualifying at Lost Tree Club
Another 36-hole qualifier and another long day! We arrived at the course at 5:55 AM and left at 8:30 PM, but we got it done!
Once again, the players must walk during their rounds, and caddies may rent a cart. The first group of the day finished the 4th hole, and one player walked over to the rest area to grab some water. After selecting some drinks, she instinctively hopped in her caddie’s cart, and the caddie drove the cart about 10 yards or so toward the 5th tee. The player quickly realized what she was doing and hopped out of the cart and then approached an Official and informed him of what just happened. The Official told me what happened over the radio, and I made my way to the 5th green. After she finished the hole, I informed her that, regrettably, the penalty for breach of the transportation rule is a two-stroke penalty to the 5th hole. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter if it was accidental or if she was transported a short distance.
The first several hours of the morning were going great until a call over the radio said that Groups 4 and 7 were bordering on being over the maximum allotted time and close to being out of position. We began monitoring those groups. Fortunately, both groups barely made their pace checkpoints at their first 9 holes. An hour or so later, a radio call says that Group 7 is now well out of position and over its allotted time. The group consisted of two notorious slow players and an unknown player. The Committee observed the group and noticed that all three players were responsible. The group came off the 18th green roughly 25 minutes over the maximum allotted time and 27 minutes after the group ahead of them completed play (an egregious amount of time). All three players were informed they incurred a one-stroke penalty on their final hole.
I have a couple of weeks off from officiating, but I’m sure I’ll have some more stories to share in a month or so.
