It’s About Time: USGA Finally Eliminates Viewer Call-Ins
- Updated: December 11, 2017
USGA — The group, consisting of the PGA Tour, LPGA, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and The PGA of America, as well as the governing bodies, will implement the following measures from January 1, 2018:
- Assign one or more officials to monitor the video broadcast of a competition to help identify and resolve Rules issues as they arise
- Discontinue any steps to facilitate or consider viewer call-ins as part of the Rules decision process
In addition, the USGA and The R&A have approved the adoption of a Local Rule, available from January 1, to eliminate the additional two-stroke penalty for failing to include a penalty on the scorecard when the player was unaware of the penalty.
Nothing like waking up on a Monday morning to a hot, steaming pile of rules changes. In the latest installment of their ongoing “Modern Rules” (aka ‘Mo Rules) initiative, the USGA and R&A let us know that they will no longer be accepting viewer call-ins on rules infractions and will be waiving the two-stroke penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard. Hallelujah!
Kudos to the armchair rules official who finally brought this to golf’s governing bodies! Let’s break it down:
We here at TIS say it’s about damn time. The fact this was even a thing is still mind-boggling. Golf is a professional sport and it should be ruled accordingly, not by amateurs. Can you imagine fans calling in rules infractions during an NFL game? The league itself can’t even define what a catch is!
Of course, perhaps the most famous incident in the modern game was Tiger’s “illegal” drop at the 2013 Masters which was called out by a viewer. While there were other instances over the years, the absurdity of the rule reared its ugly head again at the 2017 ANA Inspiration where Lexi Thompson was assessed a four-shot penalty a day after the incident occurred (for replacing her ball incorrectly *facepalm*)
But really, should we be thanking the USGA for implementing these changes at this point? Or is this just common sense? Obviously, the use of HD cameras, replay and the fact that some players are likely to be on TV more often (ie. Tiger) had to play a factor. It’s just simply amazing they need to implement a “working group” to realize some of their rules from the 1800s may be outdated at this point.
Moreover, how did these armchair rules officials even know who to contact in the first place? And what PGA Tour intern was tasked with reading viewer complaints and then actually had the balls to escalate the issue? “Hey, um, Tiger, we gotta talk…”
Now it appears there will be an actual person or a team monitoring these things. What a novel concept!
“The message is, as a fan, enjoy watching the game and the best players in the world, but also have the confidence that the committee in charge of the competition have the rules handled,” Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of the Rules of Golf, said on Golf Channel. “Let’s leave the rules and the administration of the event to the players and to those responsible for running the tournament.”
The other revision here may be even more hilarious than the first. Before 2016, if you signed a scorecard then were assessed a penalty because an armchair rules official called it in, you were DQ’d for signing an incorrect scorecard. For the past 2 years, it was reduced to a two-stroke penalty. As of January 1, 2018, it’s not even a penalty! If only rolling the ball back was this simple…
Bottom line here is that these revisions make sense … most of the old rules don’t. Better late than never!
