2010 PGA Championship

[zeg]

Although his play perhaps wasn't as manly as you would have liked, it was extremely intelligent. It was effectively a match play situation and Kaymer did exactly what he should have done and was rewarded for it.

Agree, there's nothing "manly" about playing stupid golf. There's no glory in losing because an unnecessary hero shot went wrong. As others have pointed out, Kaymer made the shots when he needed them. He's there to win, there's nothing else to prove to anyone.

[tsdnorton]

Poor Poor DJ. I was at the open and watched him Screw up on sunday on the first 2 holes and felt awful for him. But today, that was just BS. He missed the putt and was about to head to a playoff, and then that penalty. I understand the rules, and they even posted it. HOWEVER, IMO, if theyre going to do that, they should put the ropes a little further out and not put them infront of sand traps that are in play..

[Harmonious]

The fact remains that Johnson hit his drive on 18 many, many yards outside the ropes. This wasn't a case of just missing the fairway by a little, he missed it farther than anyone else I saw today. In fact, I was surprised that he didn't take 3 wood on 18 tee to ensure he hit the fairway. With his length, he still would have had an iron into the green, with 2 putts for the win.

[DarkPrince]

From being at the tournament all 7 days this week, all players should have known they had to hit out of a bunker regardless of whether or not people were standing in it. As someone else pointed out, on certain holes there would be little to absolutely NO walkable paths to follow play if you had to make sure no one stepped foot in any bunkers. There are bunkers so big that half is inside and half is outside of the gallery ropes. I probably spent more time on the "beach" walking through bunkers this week than I've spent in them in the last 4 years :P There are bunkers on this course that no man woman or child should physically be able to hit into, they are either THAT far off line, or just in random places, I thought it was just fine. Hell I watched tiger hit out of one with a 3 wood today on the 2nd hole when he missed his drive so badly to the left that he was 20 yards to the left of the ropes, and he didn't bitch one bit! They rake the bunker on the inside of the rope, but outside its fair game, play it where it lies. As also another funny part, what most people don't realize is that even all the grand stands on 18 and 9....were built on top of bunkers, TV towers on 17 were as well but no one looked down to realize it lol and these bunkers are/were in no way near in play. Its not the spectators fault that DJ hit a horribly shitty drive to put HIMSELF in that position? :P

I was in 18 grandstands when all that stuff was going on though so I didn't see any video replay even after I got home, but if you look at this picture you can kind of see just how far right he had to hit it to find one of these spots. (PS: picture was too big to upload to photobucket because its a panoramic I took/created on wednesday, but you can still see how trampled down it is after 3 practice rounds).

http://www.sendspace.com/file/czo86i

[normdamarine]

Disappointing? I would say NO, that is what makes golf a great game. What I would say it that they declared all the "bunkers" to be "bunkers" instead of waste areas because there was a penalty called the last time the tournament was there from confusion about what a player thought was a waste bunker but was actually a bunker. They decided in order to skip that problem this time was to call all of the sand areas bunkers vise waste areas. The two things I would say is they probably could have done a better job keeping the fans out of there, however he was so far off line that no one had probably hit it over there... Second, the only person to blame other than the player in this debate is the caddy. The caddy has many roles and ensure the player knows he is in a bunker and can not ground his club is one of them...

I can assure you that Johnson never ever gets that penalty called on him again... And to the clowns on here saying that the winner should not have won, he is boring for golf etc... I believe he is currently ranked 7th in the world and has finished in the top 10 in 3 of the majors this year, one being a win... Stop hating because he is European...

[motteler621]

it really does suck for him, i was hoping they would let him play. when he was grounding his club while I was watching it, I was kind of thinking why is he grounding his club on that sand but didnt really think much of it.

[microcrayfish]

It seems like a few people here think that DJ was a lock to win in the playoff if only he didn't get the penalty. Don't forget he still bogeyed the last because he blew his drive 50 yards right and into the crowd to get himself in the position where the penalty occured in the first place. Plus he probably had the memory of throwing the US Open away fresh in the back of his mind. There's no reason to assume he wouldn't simply choke again in the playoff. In my opinion Kaymer fully deserved the win.

[laxbballgolf]

Man that was an awesome tournament to watch, but now people will just remember the DJ ruling and Bubba's water shot in the playoff.

For a while there down the stretch in the back 9, I thought that was some of the most exciting and awesome golf I've seen by so many players at once...a ton of young guys who absolutely demolish the ball just man-handling a really tough course! Bubba, DJ, and Rory...it seems like those guys just play a different brand of golf and I would have loved to see one of them win it. Throw in Nick Watney, Jason Day, and JB Holmes and it just seems like the bar is being raised yet again for what it means to be a long hitter. Phil Mickelson is the only veteran I can think of who can truly hang with these guys in terms of overpowering a golf course.

For a while there, I was thinking how some of the "old guard" of the PGA Tour must be looking on in helpless horror to see the way this new generation plays the game, haha.

[tjuric007]

you guys are so cold blooded. its so easy to sit at your laptops, and criticize his every movement.....try being in his shoes.....high pressure, major on the line (something that you guys have never face, and will NEVER face b/c lets face it...all of us on this board are hacks).....so he makes a mistake, and you guys wanna rip him a new one....i really pray that you guys are in that situation..you guys would all probably chunk you shots, or shank it horribly.....so easy to point the finger.....im disgusted in the sand trap...

[senorchipotle]

Agree, there's nothing "manly" about playing stupid golf. There's no glory in losing because an unnecessary hero shot went wrong. As others have pointed out, Kaymer made the shots when he needed them. He's there to win, there's nothing else to prove to anyone.

tell that to phil mickelson and his throng of followers.

[Judah Ben-Hur]

In the end, it's just a game. Nobody died out there so they all get to do it over again somewhere else. Hopefully, the cast of characters will be different or they would never be able to get away from it. Pack up and move on to hopefully greener pastures.

[senorchipotle]

Man that was an awesome tournament to watch, but now people will just remember the DJ ruling and Bubba's water shot in the playoff.

yeah, but if you notice none of these guys trying to overpower the golf course are winning anything, save bubba watson. sure, they'll put up a few low scores, but when it comes down to the wire, it's the guys with the finesse that have been winning tournaments. look at the guys who've shot the lowest rounds recently: appleby, goydos, stricker. all older guys with touch, and a reliable swing and a cool head when it comes down to the wire.

[Shorty]

IMO Kymer is a pansy

Yeah.

He should have hit a driver for his second on 18 in the playoff. Even if it had gone in the drink, he could have held his head up high. It's threads like this that really show how little some of you guys know about the game. Frickin' moronic. He did play with "balls". He also played with his brain, which is how he won. As for DJ, I think it's pretty clear what happened. He walked to his ball and grounded his club about a foot away from it. Then you saw him suddenly lift his club up and walk out of the bunker as if to say "Oh shit, that might be a bunker".

[motteler621]

Yeah.

he grounded his club a foot away and looked up because there was a shaft of light shining right next to the ball and whenever someone moved the light would move. He asked the guy to block out the light and not move. Did you watch it? or just see the highlight. It was pretty clear what happened with the light. He went on to ground his club again behind the ball, lol. He wasnt thinking whatsoever that he was in a bunker at any time.

[MJP]

All in all IF DJ made that putt on 18 he would have been the best player of the week regardless of what the rules officials thought. It's obvious he gained no advantage. Rules like that are stupid and are only in place because it would be too hard to make a rule stating "club cannot be grounded if it affects the lie" because determining whether it affected the lie or not would be a huge hassle. So they assume any club touching the sand affects the lie.

It's obvious he gained no advantage, he hit a poor 2nd by his standards.

I respect the rules of golf, although I do not agree with everyone of them.

None of this really matters though as he missed the putt. Would have been 10x more heartbreaking, especially with the fans going nuts right as the official comes up to him breaking the bad news.

[motteler621]

All in all IF DJ made that putt on 18 he would have been the best player of the week regardless of what the rules officials thought. It's obvious he gained no advantage. Rules like that are stupid and are only in place because it would be too hard to make a rule stating "club cannot be grounded if it affects the lie" because determining whether it affected the lie or not would be a huge hassle. So they assume any club touching the sand affects the lie.

yea and according to pga rules officials not at the tournament they stated that The rules officials should have been on the site before he even hit the ball to sort of look at it and remind him its a bunker. I guess its usually what they do to protect players especially about to win a major championship from getting penalties that arent nessasary

[Range King]

Rules like that are stupid and are only in place because it would be too hard to make a rule stating "club cannot be grounded if it affects the lie" because determining whether it affected the lie or not would be a huge hassle. So they assume any club touching the sand affects the lie.

The rule is not about the lie of the ball. Otherwise the rule would also apply in the rough. The rule is about testing the ground and prohibit practice swings. Following your reasoning, you would be allowed to do practice swings in a hazard, as long as it doesn't affect the ball lie.

And it is a good rule, because if it wasn't as black and white as it is, there would be hours and hours of rulings and discussions during every round. You might blame DJ, because he did not read or understand the local rules. Also he passed the spot 3 times before, plus several practice rounds, looking at all the bunkers. He should have a serious talk with his caddie, for just standing around there, but in the end it was his major to lose and he cannot blame this at someone else. He just f'up and he has to man up to it. Blame DJ, blame his caddie, blame the rules official for not being there to prevent it, but don't blame the rule. All of that being said, it was an extremely heartbreaking sight through the window, when he had to fix his scorecard.

[MJP]

The rule is not about the lie of the ball. Otherwise the rule would also apply in the rough. The rule is about testing the ground and prohibit practice swings. Following your reasoning, you would be allowed to do practice swings in a hazard, as long as it doesn't affect the ball lie.

Not blaming the rule, it's obviously his fault. I'm saying I don't agree with the rule because he gains no advantage.