Ernie Els Calls Own Penalty, Branden Grace Gets Drop in Bunker

[Vinsk]

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/ernie-els-penalizes-himself-for-a-curious-and-noble-reason

Ok.  Just a thought here. Ernie is a great guy from what I've gathered over the years. But this kind of irked me. With all the hoopla over LT's penalty, is this a sign of what's to come? I mean...he called a penalty because the ball came out better than he expected! Is it possible he was more concerned a TV viewer would rewind it meticulously and call in? Calling yourself on a penalty is respectable and I guess expected, but he 'felt the ball came out too easy'. He placed the ball as best as humanly possible...but then second guessed himself due to how the ball came out? I dunno ...what do you all think ?

[iacas]

Occam's Razor @Vinsk. He called a penalty because he thought he incurred one.

I think if I can read a lie, Ernie can. He felt strongly enough to penalize himself.

[Vinsk]

I guess so. I see so often pros hit a shot that doesn't do what they expected and the first thing they do is look at the ground with a "must've been a strange lie...didn't expect that." So....well hell I dunno.

[Aflighter]

Dont know how he couldnt replace his ball in the same lie that it was in before he lifted to ID it.Of course only he knows if it was different but id make sure before costing myself 2 strokes.

[Golfingdad]

I get what you're saying @Vinsk ... but there might be a little more to it that we don't know.  Like @iacas said, Ernie thought he incurred a penalty so he assessed one.

If I had to guess, there's probably slightly more to it than "it came out too good" because I agree with you on that one ... lies in the rough frequently come out differently than even the pros expect.  But perhaps he was having extra trouble getting it back where it needed to go, and the good result was just the confirmation.

[BallStriker]

Has anyone seen the video of the shot?  From the account given by Ernie, I am assuming that the ball was very hot at the hole and probably hit the flagstick and dropped......wonder if he would have called the penalty if the ball missed the stick and ran 20 feet by

[roamin]

21 hours ago, iacas said:

He called a penalty because he thought he incurred one.

I'll add, he called a penalty because he thought he incurred one and he's either an honest golfer or, like @Vinsk mentioned, was afraid a TV viewer might call it in later, causing even more penalty strokes and controversy he'd want no part of. Either way, I like the result. Props to Mr. Els. 

Edited May 26, 2017 by roamin

[Hardspoon]

I think this had to be a bit of carelessness on his part, right?  If I have to replace a ball, I'm replacing it precisely enough that no shot result could make me think it wasn't properly done. If I can't, I'd call a rules official over before the shot to confirm.

The whole thing is really weird.

1 hour ago, Golfingdad said:

But perhaps he was having extra trouble getting it back where it needed to go, and the good result was just the confirmation.

That's my guess as well, which reinforces what I said above.

 

[Vinsk]

Pure assumption here...but I seriously doubt he would've called the penalty had he not holed out. 

[onthehunt526]

TV viewer can't call it in now, it has to discernable to the "naked eye". Ernie thought he played from a "wrong location" so he called the penalty on himself. It didn't feel right to Ernie, the ball came out of the rough too well...

We didn't see this but he had to mark and lift to identify his ball. In the act of replacing the ball, he felt he didn't "recreate" the lie properly, so he called the penalty. A nobel gesture, for a golfer who has always had class. 

It might cost him later in the tournament, but he will always have the piece of mind, because he did what he felt was right.

[Hardluckster]

I can't speak to Ernie's reasons, but from a personal standpoint my philosophy is "always assess the penalty on myself" if there is any doubt about the infraction. I'd rather incorrectly penalize myself than to run the risk of possibly breaking a rule and having my honor questioned. I can get the strokes back if I play well enough but recovering people's trust isn't normally as easy. 

Props to Ernie. This is what sets golf apart from every other sport!  Golf reveals character. 

[Shorty]

On 26/05/2017 at 11:28 AM, Vinsk said:

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/ernie-els-penalizes-himself-for-a-curious-and-noble-reason

 Is it possible he was more concerned a TV viewer would rewind it meticulously and call in? 

No. I think the crucial difference is that LT has displayed poor character and got caught obviously cheating and Els is an honest person.

[dchoye]

Some golf instructor should tell Ernie that feel is not real 

[BallStriker]

Semi-related topic:   Would you consider a breach of the Rules of Golf if you followed a ruling from an official that was wrong?   Asked another way, if you followed the ruling and it turned out to be wrong, should you take the penalty?

 

 

Edited May 27, 2017 by BallStriker

[VOX]

After Ernie played Justin Rose walked over and look at the spot that Ernie played from. He seemed to be a bit puzzled.

[krupa]

On 5/25/2017 at 9:28 PM, Vinsk said:

he called a penalty because the ball came out better than he expected!

He called a penalty because the ball -- that he lifted to identify and then replaced -- came out better than he expected.  

Quote

Els found his second shot plugged next to a greenside bunker. The ball was so buried that the four-time major winner signaled to his playing partners that he was going to mark his ball to identify it. Els replaced it and proceeded to chip in for eagle.

Based on this, I'd say that a better-than-expected result would make him question how he replaced the ball.

[saevel25]

15 hours ago, BallStriker said:

Has anyone seen the video of the shot?  From the account given by Ernie, I am assuming that the ball was very hot at the hole and probably hit the flagstick and dropped......wonder if he would have called the penalty if the ball missed the stick and ran 20 feet by

http://www.golfchannel.com/video/els-explains-why-he-penalized-himself-bmw-pga/

It actually had really good speed. 

14 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Pure assumption here...but I seriously doubt he would've called the penalty had he not holed out. 

Maybe, Maybe not. But so what? We shouldn't judge him on what he might do if something else happened. 

[iacas]

Ernie lifted it because he thought it was embedded/plugged.

So, I can see how if you thought it was plugged, to where it pops out without any problem at all and you can feel the club slide under the ball without getting into the dirt/mud at all, that you could feel that you didn't replace it properly.

There's a big difference between a ball that's almost plugged versus one that's even 1/4" above the dirt/mud.