At a minimum the gutless USGA should disqualify him from this tournament, and the PGA should suspend him for some months.
Moreover, the Rules of Golf apparently has a loophole, so a new rule is needed. Golf has always had two basic rules: (1) play strictly by the rules, to the point of calling penalties on yourself; (2) play it as it lays, after it stops rolling. The new Phil Rule should be, "Any player at stroke play who strikes a moving ball with obvious intent shall be disqualified."
They should aologize for the golf course..,
e, they did!
What about players that use profane language and throw golf clubs?
They do the same in hockey all the time.
It's millionaires playing a game.
The first words out of Phil’s mouth should be “F#ck you, Ian.”
Is their a rule that says you can’t hit a moving ball?
I believe John Daly did this too during a US Open at Pinehurst. He was not disqualified either. Phil apologized. I’m disappointed in him yes, for letting his frustration get the better of him. The only thing to be said n his defense is that that course was impossible on Saturday.
So he violated a rule, and accepted the penalty given out.
Seems like the rules were applied.
I believe Ian O’Connor should take a hike and stop editorializing with his personal opinions.
Phil broke a rule and accepted the penalty, then moved on.
“At a minimum the gutless USGA should disqualify him from this tournament, and the PGA should suspend him for some months.”
I thought you beli3ved in following the rules!
Golf enthusiasts are the most boring people on Earth.
That is the penalty in the rule book. If the USGA has a problem with it, they should change the rule. Phil made a calculated decision...it's no different than any other sport (e.g. hard foul in the NBA to put your opponent at the free throw line rather than giving up an easy layup).
Since Phil is pretty close to last place, I was wondering why anyone cared about this. I wanted them to talk about the golfers who are in contention this week, and not worry about the players who were good 15 or 20 years ago.
Much ado about nothing in the grand scheme of things. So what? Pampered false idols and celebrities and their worshipping coterie that make millions off of them. So what?
This is the equivalent of Alex Rodriguez trying to slap the ball put of the 1st basemen’s Mitt about 12 yrs ago.
Wheni thought Curtis did a good interview. Though questions to the point.
All of these self imposed rules gods editorializing over a triviality like this is a major reason why golf is not more popular. Only in golf do you have people lobbying(all too frequently successfully) to punish a player long after the round is over. Phil did what he did. The USGA ruled. He accepted the penalty. END OF DISCUSSION. Golf should put an end to this rule by Twitter twits who have nothing better to do than look for rules violations. All of this pontificating about integrity and tradition are irrelevant when you can get disqualified because someone saw a player move the wrong pine needle on the Golf Channel replay. If you want to get upset over something, pick something important like the FBI spying on Trump.
As for the course, it looked pathetic. There were so many brown patches on the greens that the club should make the USGA pay for the repairs. They looked like greens on a poorly run public course. Sometimes the USGA gets the right balance between difficulty and playability. Usually, however, they end up with virtually impossible setups, and Shinnecock got worse as the day went on. When a player hits a great shot, but winds up fifty yards off the green with an impossible shot, then the game is not worth watching.
I guess they should kill him and then he wouldn’t be able to embarrass them again...severe insults require severe penalties.
If you strike your own ball when it's still moving, what is the usual penalty for doing that in a USGA tournament?
And why would something unknowable like intent matter? If you commit a foul, you commit a foul.
Was Mickleson treated differently than any other golfer in the same situation who had committed the same foul?
Since when is striking your own moving ball grounds for a DQ?