Bridgestone Thread

[rudygu]

Par for the course...no major sporting association (in the U.S.) allows it's athletes to publicly criticise the officials. At least they're not giving Tiger preferential treatment. Calling the referee out by name the way he did really left the PGA no choice. He was just enforcing the rules, after all.

I'm sure Tiger knew he would probably be fined and just didn't care - no big deal really.

[PiustheDrGolf]

Well..
Few weeks ago, President Obama called MA policeman 'Stupid'. And he didn't get 'fined' but a lot of controversial talks had been developed by the act. In a few days, Tiger is going to have a press conference and saying he is sorry to speak that way, just like Obama did. Does he deserve to be fined? In my opinion, YES and if it could, so does Obama.

[deronsizemore]

I'm not surprised. Can't call out an official, especially by name and expect nothing to happen, although I'm sure whatever the fine was, Tiger probably paid it in cash before he left the course. haha

The official was only doing his job and even though it was the final group in a tournament that was shaping up to have one of the best finishes of the year, the official still has to do his job and assess the same penalties to the final group that he would have to the second to last group.

That said, I do think they need to change the ruling slightly to either allow the final pairing to not be timed or at the very least give them more time. The whole idea of timing groups is so they do not hold up the group behind them. In this case, there was no one behind them so putting the final group on the clock is somewhat silly. When you factor in the massive crowds Tiger draws anyway, along with the fact it was the final paring in a popular tour event, they were having to take more time than usual to allow fans to stop walking, talking, etc, so at the very least more time should be allowed for them to play.

As it's written right now though, the official was just doing his job. Can't fault him for that.

[TN94z]

It's ironically good that they are fining him. It will bring negative attention to the rules official who called this ticky-tack warning, and sets Tiger in a better light while also giving Paddy some solace for his loss. The end result-I doubt any rules officials will call the clock on a PGA golfer fighting for a victory anytime soon.

I agree. I think that fining Tiger will bring it to more sports talk shows than it would have had the fine not been issued. I agree with Tiger on this deal and I am really glad that he stood up for what he thinks is right...even though he won the tournament. Padraig is a very open guy and he probably won't raise too much of a fuss about it, but he did say that it bothered him.

Now to the rules official...while we really want to jump down his throat for this problem, the guy has a job to do and it is an official rule. So he was really just doing what he was supposed to do. Now it will be up to the PGA to come up with some plan of action so this situation doesn't happen again. It would have been a much better tournament had it come down to the last hole, and now there is more negative attention on the tournament than anything.

[bunkerputt]

It was definitely short-sighted of the rules official. He's probably thinking, "No one's special, everyone gets equal treatment." While I agree with that cosmically, some golf events are more important than others, some matches are more important than others and some player's games are more important than others because more people care about them. Otherwise, nothing ever in the history of the world of golf would be a highlight. Everything would just be the same old hum-drum more of the same ho-hum.

I think the CBS nightly news comes on after Sunday golf. It's either that, or a Juiceman infomercial. I really don't know for sure because I DON'T CARE. I'm sure folks with cable just switch to the golf channel after the coverage is over anyway.

[rudygu]

I wonder what the fine is going to look like money wise, considering he is the wealthiest athlete in the world haha. PGA is just trying to save some face in a situation where the official clearly screwed up. This won't be an issue for Tiger anymore.

How did the official "clearly screw up"? He enforced the rule as it is written and did not show preferential treatment. He did the right thing.

I'm a big fan of Harrington and was very disappointed to see the tourney end the way it did, but the only person to fault here is the guy that swung the club. Tiger's 8 iron put more pressure on Paddy than anything else.

[Golfing Dad]

I am in no way an Obama fan, but there is a difference. Obama is protected by the First Amendment. Tiger agrees to the rules of the game when we chooses to participate. Therefore, Tiger should be fined, Obama should not.

Another difference (which supports your point), Tiger was right for what he said and he had all the evidence he needed before making his statement. Obama did not, and therefore Obama should be fined for being stupid.

[Dub]

I am glad to see the comments supporting Tiger and Paddy. I also agree it’s a bit silly to "fine" Tiger Woods.

I agree....well said.

[kfowler]

I read both sides of this and while I believe the official was technically correct, I believe he lost sight of the big picture. You have two multi-winning major champions squaring off face to face on national tv. Pro golf is an entertainment sport and they should have let them play out.

[iacas]

I couldn't agree more. One of the greatest golf battles of the season was ruined.

I think the official did the right thing. They were out of position and had been for a LONG time. Padraig didn't make up any time - in fact, they lost time through the back nine.

Padraig brought it on himself. So I blame Padraig for not playing within the time settings provided, I do NOT blame the official. Several players and caddies smiled knowingly about Paddy's slowness.

[rudygu]

I read both sides of this and while I believe the official was technically correct, I believe he lost sight of the big picture. You have two multi-winning major champions squaring off face to face on national tv. Pro golf is an entertainment sport and they should have let them play out.

I just don't think the official had any real choice. His job was to enforce the rules, not bend them for better television ratings. If I were in his position I would have done exactly the same thing. I would rather do the job I was there to do correctly than take it upon myself to alter the rules for a more dramatic finish.

I'm not truly convinced that being put on the clock really caused Paddy's problems anyway. He hit a series of bad shots on that hole. Couple that with the phenomenal shot Tiger hit and suddenly he felt like he had to hit the hero flop shot. Obviously, being on the clock didn't make it any easier, but it's not really fair to blame the entire meltdown on the referee.

[Sandwedge74]

I think the official did the right thing. They were out of position and had been for a LONG time. Padraig didn't make up any time - in fact, they lost time through the back nine.

fair enough and I can definitely see your point Iacas. I guess as a viewer is just hard to watch but golf after all is so unique because of the rules in place. I wasn't aware of how slow Paddy was - these things are hard to see from TV and the only live tourney I have attended were the US open practice rounds at Bethpage- not the actual tournament.

[chriskzoo]

The problem with putting them on the clock is that it made zero difference. The purpose of the clock rule is to make sure that you're not holding up the entire field - a perfectly acceptable rule. But when you have the only two guys who have a chance to win the tournament, in the last group (i.e. nobody to hold up), 1 stroke apart on #16 on Sunday, it's a boneheaded call with nothing to gain. With 2½ holes left to play, they are not going to "catch up" and were still on pace to finish right at 6pm, so why bother?

That being said, Paddy made a bad decision to play right at the hole and might have decided otherwise given time to analyze his lie, etc. and maybe played uot to the right and had a 15 or 20 footer for par.

[iacas]

I'm fine with everything: the fine, Tiger speaking out, and the group being put on the clock to begin with.

[Rob]

Tiger gets excited on the course,but he directs his anger at himself. He`s really a class act,intelligent,articulate. And,the best there will ever be,imo. I think he was right,and the Tour doesn`t really want to piss him off,and I`m pretty sure Tiger doesn`t care about the fine,knew it was coming. He ought to go beat up the European Tour for a year or so,and the Tour wouldn`t f@#$% with him next time,if the Tour still existed. My 2 cents worth!

[wannabe]

I wonder whether Paddy helped out Tiger with paying the fine. I'm sure he's on Tiger's side in this, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he pitched in.

Regarding being put on the clock, as long as this is a rule that is uniformly applied at all tourneys for final pairings in contention for the win, then I'm good with it being applied at this tourney as well. Based on all the tourneys I've seen over the years, I'm just really scratching my head about how many times this rule could've been applied, maybe even should've, but wasn't, and why all of a sudden do we see it at this tourney.

[ks8829]

The rule official should have consider the fact it was the last group and a very close match and consulted with higher up before making the decision to put them on the clock.

rules are rules but under the circumstances the official should have used better judgement and let them play without any distraction, especially from an official.

[Shindig]

After some thought, I'm happy they were put on the clock. Not because of Paddy's error, but because if even Tiger and Paddy can get a warning in their situation, it's a bit of a call-out to other players. Maybe this will improve professional pace of play?

And then the weekend hackers who see someone line up a putt from 4 sides for even the short ones won't see that anymore, and then might not do that himself for his fourth putt at the Muni on Sunday.