The drop.
Posted on 10/18/2005 10:51:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Never mind what Karl Rove said to "Scooter" Libby that may have been heard by Judith Miller who would do 80 days in jail for something Bob Novak would put in print with impunity. And who spells Flame with a "P," anyway? The name that is important here is none of the above. It is Michelle Wie. Yes, the 16-year-old (barely) golfer whose professional debut was marked, and marred, by one of those lessons in life that must be attended by each and every one of us before this mortal coil is shuffled. But such an early shuffle!
Wie had finished a respectable fourth in a field of the Samsung World Championship led by the indomitable Annika Sorenstam. For this Wie was to have received $53,000 and change and the plaudits of a sports world that had wondered at her abilities for months leading up to her baptism among the ladies who play for pay. But no. Wie had not reckoned on the intervention of one of those people who do not play but who make a living watching others who can, a professional voyeur. One George Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, thought he had seen a miscue of Wie's on the day before the tournament ended. Wie was to be undone.
Bamberger, gifted with not only a writing ability but also the global positioning capacity of a satellite, summoned Robert O. Smith, the LPGA Tour rules official, and they trouped back out to the seventh green Sunday evening to reconstruct a drop from an unplayable lie Wie had made on Saturday. After two trips to the green and re-enactments by Wie and her caddy, the lass was disqualified. It was determined that the drop from which she played her ball was closer to the hole than the point from where she had lifted and placed it. A rules violation and disqualification.
The eagle-eyed Bamberger had been some 15 yards away on the fateful day. After Wie had holed out, he stayed behind and paced off the distances, from where the ball first landed and from where the drop was made. He contacted the tour rules guy, Smith, the next day, saying he'd become more uncomfortable the more he thought about it, and rules officials said Wie had in fact dropped the ball about 12 inches nearer the hole, still 45 yards away. Wie says if it was truly closer it may have been three inches nearer.
The lessons learned? Always get a tour official to oversee a drop, and arbitrate an unplayable lie. Your caddy won't do; he is on your side. The gallery is no help, either.
And remember that for each of us, someday, somewhere, there waits a Bamberger.
Reid Collins is a former CBS and CNN news correspondent.
I just clicked in here to see what this is about.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/columnists/morning_buzz/12930832.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_morning_buzz
Why wait to blow whistle?
Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson tackles the role of Sports Illustrated's Michael Bamberger, who on Sunday alerted a rules official to a possible violation by Michelle Wie on Saturday, leading to Wie's disqualification:
Should golf writers do anything when they think they see an infraction?
I came across this question in March at the Bay Hill Invitational, when K.J. Choi played a bunker shot to the 18th green. He left his first shot in the sand, then swept his foot over the sand to fill in the hole.
It appeared to be a violation, since players cannot test conditions in the hazard. Should that have been a double bogey instead of a bogey because of the one-shot penalty? I told rules official Mark Russell what I saw, and he went into the scoring trailer to speak to Choi before he signed his card. Turns out there is exception under Rule 13-4 for smoothing sand after a shot, provided it doesn't improve the lie on the next shot.
Bamberger's error was not in bringing up what he suspected was a violation, but his timing.
He was standing about 15 yards away as Wie's 5-wood on the uphill, 470-yard hole hit hard off the top of a slope and shot into an island of desert bushes.
When her caddie, 18-year LPGA veteran Greg Johnston, found the ball, Wie wasted no time telling fellow player Grace Park she was taking an unplayable lie, then taking out her driver to measure two club lengths and taking a drop. The first time, the ball inched forward, and she dropped it again. From there, some fronds from a small, desert palm slightly interfered with her backswing. She had 45 feet to the hole, the first 20 feet down a steep slope to the green. It was a weak, nervous chip to 15 feet, but she made the par putt.
Bamberger stayed behind and stepped off the distance from where her ball was in the bush to the hole, and from where she dropped to the hole. It caused him enough concern to bring it up to Smith the next day.
But if it bothered him enough that he paced it off, he has been around golf long enough to know that once a card is signed, there is no going back.
I figure my twelve incher has been worth way more than $53,000 to me. But I'm willing to rent it if you know how to treat it right. Especially if you know how to handle heavy wood.
What?!?! Geezapete, I'm talkin' bout my DeWalt 12" Miter Saw, you sick puppy!
The drop.
it appears that golf is a game that is umpired.....BY THE SPECTATORS?!?!?!?!?
As said earlier, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?
I am glad I have never wasted 1 second on this stupid "sport" (if you can call it that).
I always kinda sorta thought that golf was a freakish game for FREAKS.
Now I know that I was correct....
Professional Wrestling is more of a "sport" than golf...
"You are not the story; you are the observer of the story. Write the story, don't become part of the story."
Journalism 101 - first day in class, they have you write this down in your notebook. First test, this is a major portion of it. Journalism Ethics - you spend weeks going over this simple set of statements, applying it to different events.
He broke the rule; he became part of the story. He affected the results of the game. If he had suspecions on what happened, that's what the column is for - not going to the judges and recreating the observation.
There's generally a word for those in journalism who do this - outcasts. He wants to interview Tiger? Whoops, that got assigned to someone else, or perhaps Tiger isn't available for the interview. Who wants a repeat performace? What if he pulls this at the Masters - suspecion that a ball was switched and a gain of two inches is made, perhaps.
So, are you one of those people who believe a U.S. reporter shouldn't alert U.S. soldiers of a sneak attack they knew about (cf James Fallows)
I'm not sure of all the rules, but isn't the idea of the "drop" really an approximation to begin with? That is why they literaly DROP the ball, so that while the play is MORE favorable at an equal distance? If there was a requirement of precision, then there wouldn't be a DROP to begin with, and the DROP was done at the penalty of a single stroke?
I don't know but this is what we throughout the world familiar with guys like, whoever that nobody "reporter" without the imagination to fabricate stories about political figures, is call this particular action a "D@#$ Move"
;-)
Golf's not your cup of tea, eh?
lame comparison! very lame!
Good point.
Good point but........... the drop is really done so as not to allow the player to place their ball to give themself a great lie.
At one point he said....Tiger Woods would have used such and such a club. The partner said, this is not Tiger Woods, this is a 16 year old.
It got to the point where I changed the channel.
He deliberately waited an extra day so she would be disqualified.
Said he hadn't realized the rule that would have allowed her to correct the score.
PURE BULLDROPPINGS!
If he told her his 'concern's the day before she would have been able to change the score on her card. He waited an extra day making me believe he wanted to 'get her'.
Exactly. Why did Bammberger wait until Sunday to question Wie's drop? If he had done it on Saturday, before she signed her card she would have taken the penalty and moved on.
This will be one of those short-term bad, long-term good stations for Wie. It shows her character and will make her mentally stronger.
12 inches in 45 yards? ? ?
I agree - all Bambergers SHUT UP!
She might be youthful and green to the game, but she is absolutely gorgeous and a hearthrob. After 18 years of marriage to a lovely wife, I can honestly say that seeing photos of the beautiful Miss Wie makes my heart palpitate.
Especially the photo below. [No, she's not blowing a kiss to me.]
Here's a couple more:
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