Jim Furyk And Playoff Gimmies

I walked upstairs at some point on Sunday evening and of all people, my wife told me about Jim Furyk’s 58 at the Traveler’s Championship. You gotta understand, my wife doesn’t care one iota about golf scores – she hates watching golf and has no patience for playing the game either. However, she did impart the score with a bit of awe, and if my wife is impressed about anything on the golf course, it’s truly significant. I didn’t watch one minute of the tournament, so I did do some review of some of the stories regarding Jim’s feat. Wouldn’t you know it, on Saturday Jim shot a 2-over par 72, and to hear him talk about it, it was almost like “someone else was in my body swinging the club”. He spent a good deal of time on the driving range after his Saturday round and found what he thought was the problem. I think we’ve all been there. You go out to play golf and you have a miserable day – nothing seems to work (and we probably card scores a lot higher than 72!). You can’t get off of the tee, you can’t hit a ball off the fairway, can’t chip or putt. You drive away from the course and don’t want to touch a club. The next time you go out, it could be completely different – you could have the round of your life. Jim found something to fix on the range that night – something to do with the length of his backswing. His Sunday score was 14 strokes better than his Saturday round. Jim Furyk stands as an epic example of what makes the game of golf so unpredictable and so damn fun. And for Pennsylvania natives like me, Jim’s easy to root for – he’s a Lancaster County guy. His swing isn’t pretty, he doesn’t overpower a golf course, but he always seems to find a way to remain competitive – I’d think there are quite a few lessons to be learned there. Our team was closing in on a wildcard playoff bid when lightning washed out our last-week-of-the-season effort. No playoffs for us. However, I did hear one playoff story that bears talking about. Details are a bit fuzzy, but on the last hole of one of the first-round playoff matches, two balls were on the green – one from each team. The one closest to the hole (I’d heard it was maybe a one- to two-foot putt range) was for a par or bogey. The one 30 feet from the hole was for a 7. The guy with the long putt had already lost his match, but I don’t think either side had considered the impact of 3 points for low net. The competitor with the longer putt asked for a “Good – Good” (both putts conceded), and I don’t know whether the competitor with the short putt thought his competitor had conceded his putt, but I think he tapped it in anyway and the guy with the 30-footer picked his ball up thinking his putt had been conceded. Sadly enough, they totaled up the scores, and the team with the 30-foot putt won team net by one stroke and “won” their playoff match. Here’s the problem. Gimmies are no longer allowed beyond the length of the flagstick. Several years ago a “Mercy Rule” was enacted to allow gimmes beyond the flagstick, but the rule was unwieldy and confusing. A 30-foot putt can no longer be conceded. The player should not have asked for a concession at that length, and should have been required to putt the ball. If he had holed it, he would indeed have won the match for his team. So, both teams went to the clubhouse and talked it over with Fran Lauer who was still there nursing a beer. The only thing Fran could think to do (and I think this is brilliant), was to make the player try to make his 30-footer. Unfortunately, it was rather dark at that point, and sadly, the player took 3 putts to get in the hole and the match went to the other side. Again, I may have gotten the details wrong, if so, I apologize. Key point is that gimmies can only be given within the length of the flagstick. If you’re chapped by that, let me reiterate that a gimmie is a direct violation of Rule 1 in the Rules of Golf – you must play the ball from the teeing area into the hole. Gimmies are also not allowed at all in stroke play competitions. So, consider them a true gift – you shouldn’t get one at all. See you all in the spring!

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