What happened to Dustin Johnson on the 72 hole of the PGA Championship was sad, but was he really the one to blame?
What about Pete Dye...maybe he could have stopped somewhere between one thousand and eleven hundred bunkers and Dustin would be the champ.!
Maybe it was the fault of the PGA rules committee for not having a guy run over to Dustin and yell "STOP" before he hit the ball!
Maybe his caddie is to blame...he had about 10% of a million two ripped from his hands and all he had to do was say "Hold on Boss...let's check this out!"
Maybe the guy that put the ropes out should have stretched them a little wider!
Maybe the maintenance crew should have left a rake behind!
Maybe the guys that wrote the local rules sheet should have used larger font!
Maybe if Nick Watney wasn't blowing his brains out, he may have been able to stop him!
Maybe one of the fifty people standing in the bunker could have said "hey buddy it looks like a bunker"
Maybe blah blah blah......It was HIS fault and HE knows it!!
Otherwise he would have acted like a NHL player called for a weak tripping penalty late in the game! He would have smashed that desk to pieces...yelled at the rules official...thrown over his chair...pulled each of his clubs from his bag and tossed them out of the scoring room...the CBS telecast would have been like Jerry Springer...bleep bleep bleep...he would have stormed out of the building yelling and screaming to anyone that would listen.
Instead, he walked relatively calmly through the gallery (with what appeared to be a hint of tears in his eyes) and headed for the locker room for a beer. He knew it was his fault and no one else was to blame. Class Act!
It was a very sad thing that happened and I feel truly sorry for Dustin and at the time I thought it was ridiculous, but as more information came to light, I realized that it truly was HIS fault.
The way he handled himself was incredible and I will not watch and hope that this guy wins a big one soon!!
great summary Tom, but surely the last sentence should read that you WILL watch Dustin and hope for a victory!!!
I guess the one thing that sticks with me is this. Golf touts itself as being a gentlemans game, whereby the golfer basically self-polices. It is very clear that he was in no way seeking to gain some unfair competitive advantage. It is also very clear that a mistake was made by allowing the crowds to stand where they did and by having conditions that invited such confusion. Sure, the golfers could have asked for rulings for many of their lies, and likely incurred time warnings by the 4th hole! It seems that the rules sometimes get in the way of good intentions.
Posted by: Carl | Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 02:32 PM