The 2016 U.S. Open starts in earnest next Thursday, so I thought I’d reminisce a little bit about memorable Rules Fiascos and Rule Decisions that happened during Opens past. One of my favorites happened back in 1994 at Oakmont (where they’re playing this week, albeit without most of the trees that line the course back then). Ernie Els was leading the tournament as a 24-year old (years before they nicknamed him The Big Easy) by three strokes going into the final round. His tee shot on the first hole flared out to the left of the fairway leaving him a nasty lie in some very thick rough. Taking it all in, Ernie looked toward the hole and spotted a camera crane (one of those hi-lift personnel cranes) between his position and the hole, and asked the rule official with his group if he could get relief from it. This particular crane was on wheels, and as it turned out, had been moved at least three times that very same day (and would soon roll to position on the 9th fairway). The rules official with the group apparently didn’t consider the ability to roll the crane out of the way (and gave Ernie relief in much shorter grass, and although he made a bogey on the opening hole, Ernie was looking at a much bigger score if he hadn’t. The rules official did later say that he’d made the wrong decision, but a rules official can screw up and the player can benefit. (This is the reason you’ll see most players call a rules official in to get a “ruling” whenever anything remotely questionable occurs. It’s probably not that the player doesn’t know the rules, it’s more like the player is hoping to get a ruling that’s wrong and to his benefit.) Good for you, Ernie Els. (You may remember that the 1994 Open was not finished until a 20-hole playoff between Els, Colin Montgomerie, and (the guy I was rooting for) Loren Roberts. Without the break on #1, Els probably wouldn’t have made it into the playoff.) Another great story (although not really a rules issue) happened in 1979 at Inverness outside of Toledo, OH. Lon Hinkle was standing on the par-5 8th hole in the first round of the open, watching the group ahead of them play their second shots toward the green. He noticed that the players ahead of them were playing their shots at almost a 90-degree angle to the tee (the hole is a hard dog-leg left), and that the 17th fairway to the left of the 8th tee could provide a short cut to get to the green.
Lon teed it up and estimated the line to the middle of the 17th fairway hit a shot through a gap in the trees, and hit a 2-iron approach to the center of the 8th green to make birdie. He would end up as the 1st round leader. One of his playing partners was the great Chi Chi Rodriquez, who after seeing Lon take the shortcut, proceeded to follow suit, making an easy par on the 8th. The press went wild with the Hinkle story and the shortcut. The USGA was not amused. Citing the inherent danger to spectators and players on the 17th and the possibility of holding up play, the USGA made the unprecedented move of having Inverness buy a tree to fill the gap in the trees between 8 and 17. The tree was bought from a local nursery, but equipment to plant the tree had be trucked in from Detroit. By the time the second round started, there was a new obstacle, the “Hinkle Tree”. The story gets even better. In his second round, Lon had started on the back nine and had faded from contention. He’d heard about the tree being planted, and when he arrived at the 8th tee, he was steamed enough to hit driver over the new tree back into the 17th fairway, and hit a 6 iron onto the green to make another easy birdie. Here’s a tragic one from one of the qualifying tournaments for this year’s Open. Won Jun Lee, a teenager from South Korea was in one of the Sectional Qualifiers last week. (Keep in mind that ANYONE can make the US Open field if they get through the qualification process (even you!)). The sectional qualifier final is a 36-hole stroke-play event. Lee’s playing partner noticed that on one the 29th hole of the day that Lee had tamped down a pitch mark that Lee’s ball had made on the fringe of the green (but not on the green), and his pitch into the green would travel near or over this repaired area. Rule 13-2 imposes a two-stroke penalty for that act. The key is the location of the pitch mark – since it’s not on the green, you can’t repair it until your line of play isn’t over or through it. Pitch marks on the green can be repaired at any time – in fact you’re encourage to repair them (and any other old damage caused by a golf ball) when you arrive at the green. Any other repair to the course must be done with care to avoid a rules violation. The rules encourage you to fix other damage to the course, but ONLY if the repair of the damage doesn’t improve the line of play into the hole. So, that old divot 5 feet in front of your ball? Don’t repair it until you’ve played your shot. Fixing the divot in front of your ball (even if it’s not yours) earns you a two-stroke penalty for improving your situation. That spike mark or shoe scuff on the green? Leave it be until everyone finishes putting. In Lee’s case, he should have played his pitch onto the green before tamping down the pitch mark. If he had, he would have made it into a playoff amongst 5 other golfers for the right to play in this year’s Open. With the two-stroke penalty, he was on the outside looking in. Further review of this story from the playing companion reveals that Lee had done similar repairs on two other occasions on the day, but the playing companion did not speak up about the violation until the 29th hole. I don’t know why this didn’t mean 4 additional penalty strokes – maybe they were added later. His playing partner should have spoken sooner if that was the case to protect the field in the stroke play event. If you see something, say something! I’m sure Mr. Lee has learned a valuable lesson, and one he’s not likely to repeat.