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Four Stroke Penalty in Golf Yesterday

I don't play golf much these days but I use to play a fair bit and this behaviour use to infuriate me. In one four ball I use to play in one guy always use to do this but he was more of my mates friend so I didn't feel right saying anything. One thing you always notice about players who casually place and replace coin and ball like this is that if the ball is inadvertently placed in the wrong spot 100% of the time it is placed nearer the hole. When you are talking a foot long putt an inch can make a massive difference psychologically.

I think she deserved the penalty. What do the golfers on here think?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/02/lexi-thompson-four-stroke-penalty-tv-viewer
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Comments

  • edited April 2017
    Two strokes for an incorrect scorecard, given that they didn't make the decision until the following day seems very harsh. Presumably when her scorecard was submitted it was in line with what she's played on that day with no indication given that she may incur a penalty.

    Surely, the logical solution, would be some kind of time limit on how long after an incident a decision to penalise someone can be made in order to ensure that any penalties can be reflected on a players scorecard before they submit it.
  • I'm not comfortable with the notion that every last move is being inspected by tv viewers the world over but not sure how that is avoidable given the marvellous technology we have and the fact that too many people have too much time on their hands. That said, for a professional golfer to mark their ball wrongly in this manner is unforgivable and whilst I wouldn't want to accuse the golfer in question of anything more untoward than carelessness, I find it hard to buy the "I didn't realise I'd done it.." routine
  • I'm not comfortable with the notion that every last move is being inspected by tv viewers the world over but not sure how that is avoidable given the marvellous technology we have and the fact that too many people have too much time on their hands. That said, for a professional golfer to mark their ball wrongly in this manner is unforgivable and whilst I wouldn't want to accuse the golfer in question of anything more untoward than carelessness, I find it hard to buy the "I didn't realise I'd done it.." routine

    I agree. I have watched it a few times now and her claims that there was no intent become less plausible with each viewing.
  • I'm no expert here but two things.
    1). Why did she pick it up? She didn't actually do anything to the ball. Didn't clean it, remove debris or even look at it.

    2) Did she move it that far from its original position.?

    Confused!!!
  • She cheated and got caught. Punishment may look harsh, but the game depends on people calling penalties like this on themselves
  • I don't know if they are reconciled, but years ago Sandy Lyle had a beef with Colin Montgomery, suggesting that he was 'guilty' of several similar ball nearer to the hole indiscretions ..
    if the lady concerned here has breached the rules, intentionally or not, then she's bang to rights irrespective of who, how or why the 'offence' was spotted .. I wonder if the same penalty would apply if a golfer replaced the ball further from the hole ? .. I daresay it would
  • I know almost nothing about golf but watching that video I really don't know what she could gain moving it like that.
    But on the other hand, she picked the ball up for no logical reason.

    I find it hard to believe she didn't mean it.
    Picking a ball up less than 2 inches off the ground and then putting it back down again you wouldn't miss its spot by that much of a distance surely.

    Personally, it looks like she deliberately moved the ball to the side for some sort of advantage.
  • I know almost nothing about golf but watching that video I really don't know what she could gain moving it like that.
    But on the other hand, she picked the ball up for no logical reason.

    I find it hard to believe she didn't mean it.
    Picking a ball up less than 2 inches off the ground and then putting it back down again you wouldn't miss its spot by that much of a distance surely.

    Personally, it looks like she deliberately moved the ball to the side for some sort of advantage.

    Most players like to line up the the markings on the ball, which may be the brand markings or the players own, with the line of the putt.

    As I said above, an inch can make a big psychological difference to how confident you are when standing over a putt. But in this case she might have been trying to change the line of the putt to avoid a spike mark or indentation in the green on the original line.
  • She's wearing a RedBull cap in the interview. I see what you've done there @Red_in_SE8 . Still April 18th?
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  • Link to video of the incident?
  • Leuth said:

    Link to video of the incident?

    it's in the guardian article
  • 25May98 said:

    I'm no expert here but two things.
    1). Why did she pick it up? She didn't actually do anything to the ball. Didn't clean it, remove debris or even look at it.

    2) Did she move it that far from its original position.?

    Confused!!!

    Re (1).... I haven't seen the video but many players mark their ball with a straight line which they align to the line which they want to start the ball off on.

    I don't know why.......I tried it and my putting continued to be shite.
  • OK that's f**king ludicrous. Fire whoever made that decision and award her the title retrospectively
  • Leuth said:

    OK that's f**king ludicrous. Fire whoever made that decision and award her the title retrospectively

    Because it was only a tiny bit against the rules?
  • It moved maybe one centimetre? And was still beside the marker? Which had been put behind it? Let's go through all the tapes shall we? I bet we can find more examples of this heinous form of cheating. In every major ever. Come on, it'll be fun!

    This decision is a total outrage that makes a farce of golf.
  • I know almost nothing about golf but watching that video I really don't know what she could gain moving it like that.
    But on the other hand, she picked the ball up for no logical reason.

    I find it hard to believe she didn't mean it.
    Picking a ball up less than 2 inches off the ground and then putting it back down again you wouldn't miss its spot by that much of a distance surely.

    Personally, it looks like she deliberately moved the ball to the side for some sort of advantage.

    Agreed - not necessarily nearer the hole but definitely changed the line, and it looks deliberate.

  • Advantage? The line has changed by one centimetre at most.

    If I were on her 'team' I'd comb through footage of the winner and everyone else in the top ten, see how they replaced their balls.
  • "Cheat in golf and you cheat in life", as some else once said.
    She was setting her ball up to how she wanted it and not how it lay. Trying to gain an advantage not how small.
  • edited April 2017
    Plus, the most ludicrous detail of all: the penalty for having an incorrect scorecard. A penalty for having a penalty. Farce.
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  • Leuth said:

    Plus, the most ludicrous detail of all: the penalty for having an incorrect scorecard. A penalty for having a penalty. Farce.

    Up to last year signing an incorrect card would have been a DQ.

  • Leuth said:

    It moved maybe one centimetre? And was still beside the marker? Which had been put behind it? Let's go through all the tapes shall we? I bet we can find more examples of this heinous form of cheating. In every major ever. Come on, it'll be fun!

    This decision is a total outrage that makes a farce of golf.

    I think you have a different definition of the phrase "total outrage" to me.
  • edited April 2017

    Leuth said:

    Plus, the most ludicrous detail of all: the penalty for having an incorrect scorecard. A penalty for having a penalty. Farce.

    Up to last year signing an incorrect card would have been a DQ.

    That would surely mean any retroactive punishment would result in a DQ. No matter how trivial. You can see why they changed the rules!
  • More importantly she looks like she needs a hug. I'm more than willing to make the offer to her.

    Doesn't look to me as though she gets much if any of an advantage. Seems especially harsh.
  • She was so angry she took her clothes off and went for a swim to cool down

    image
  • I'm sure there's a 'hole in one' joke somewhere just waiting to be unleashed.
  • Leuth said:

    Advantage? The line has changed by one centimetre at most.

    If I were on her 'team' I'd comb through footage of the winner and everyone else in the top ten, see how they replaced their balls.

    Played a lot of golf @Leuth?

    Cheated, got caught - end of. There's no way that is anything other than completely deliberate. I ought to know, I've done it in the past as well - shitty bit of turf, moody looking clover on the green etc. I'm not proud of admitting that, BTW - but golf used to bring the absolute worst out in me for cheating. I had an epiphany one day when I found myself cheating in a practice round FFS. Literally cheating against myself :smiley:
  • Leuth said:

    Plus, the most ludicrous detail of all: the penalty for having an incorrect scorecard. A penalty for having a penalty. Farce.

    This for me is the biggest travesty. She signed for the RIGHT score AT THE TIME. The officials then served a 2 shot penalty the next day. She couldnt then change the scorecard could she, so what else could she do. Give her a 2 shot penalty & leave it like that. She has then been "fined" by the rules but then would have still won the tournament. SIMPLES.

    Also - golf has to sort itself out. They cant keep on using tv footage sent in by a viewer the next day. Funny that they didn't penalise Woods a few years back at Augusta when he plainly took a drop yards from where he should have dropped it.
  • Leuth said:

    Advantage? The line has changed by one centimetre at most.

    If I were on her 'team' I'd comb through footage of the winner and everyone else in the top ten, see how they replaced their balls.

    If there was a pitch mark (not hers) on the line, a tuft of grass, a spike mark, all of which could affect a putt, then by deliberately moving it a centimetre to the left or right it would remove that 'obstacle' from her 'new' line. It was deliberate and cheating - so obvious a deliberate act for any golfer to recognise.

    New rules are due in 2019 that will include players being allowed to repair other pitch marks, spike marks and so on that may be on their line on the green - but until then!!
  • I'm not a golfer but it seems really stupid to me that you have to pick your ball up and put it straight back down again anyway. Why do they do that?
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