So About That Penalty in the US Open Today...

Chung Tran's Avatar
on Dustin Johnson, after the ball moved lightly on the green.. the USGA was stupid to delay the announcement of a penalty shot.. the Director all but told the Golf announcers that a penalty would be accessed after the round finished.. so why not do it immediately? Johnson was on hole #12 when the pseudo announcement was made.. waiting until the finish makes it look like "the fix" might have been in.

FWIW, I think Johnson deserved the penalty, though ultimately it didn't matter.

big thumbs up to the cameraman, who filmed Johnson and SO Paulina Gretsky as they left the 8th green for the scorer's tent.. mr. Cameraman focused nicely on Gretsky's ass-ets.

http://hollywoodlife.com/pics/paulin...t-us-open-ftr/
The USGA totally FUCKED that up. They dissed DJ's win by giving him the penalty (it was not a penalty) plus they dissed their own rules official who ruled there was no penalty at the time when DJ called him over to explain what happened.

I have no idea what the USGA saw that I and millions of watchers saw but if DJ had moved the ball with his putter he would have called a penalty on himself. So DJ lied? That's what they're implying...how does a ball move backward when the putter is behind it? That's when it moved. Shame on the USGA for this episode. They were completely alone; players were tweeting what bullshit this was.

Talk about a SHITSTORM had a player either tied DJ or finished one stroke back.
You'll have much better luck trying to explain the free drop from the rough . . . especially after hitting it directly over the "movable obstruction" . . .
EXTXOILMAN's Avatar
Perfect illustration of a couple of the ridiculous rules of golf, especially as enforced, or not, by the USGA. (Although the PGA isn't much better...see the non-penalty when Tiger Woods had a bunch of fans move the huge rock in Phoenix a while back.) Waiting hours to make a ruling that could have potentially lost him the tournament was unfair. I'm a fan of instant replay as a general rule, just not sure it benefits golf at all.

Really glad for DJ...a real feel good story.
EXTXOILMAN's Avatar
You'll have much better luck trying to explain the free drop from the rough . . . especially after hitting it directly over the "movable obstruction" . . . Originally Posted by MooneyFlyer
The rules giveth, and they taketh away.
You'll have much better luck trying to explain the free drop from the rough . . . especially after hitting it directly over the "movable obstruction" . . . Originally Posted by MooneyFlyer
It didn't look like he took "full relief" which is what is required. And Woods tweeted that he wouldn't continue playing until they made their decision. He probably would have received a slow play warning, then a penalty, lol.