Is Phil Mickelson Going Nuts?: Hitting a moving ball at US Open

[Aflighter]

Wow.This is what's wrong with the world today.Everybody needs a pacifier.He broke a rule and got the 2 stroke penalty.If you can't do what he did then get rid of rule of 2 strokes and make it a auto dq.People need to get off their high horse.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, Aflighter said:

Wow.This is what's wrong with the world today.Everybody needs a pacifier.He broke a rule and got the 2 stroke penalty.If you can't do what he did then get rid of rule of 2 strokes and make it a auto dq.People need to get off their high horse.

This includes you lecturing everyone else on how to feel. I don't take it that seriously, but within the context of golf, right now it's a big story.

---

Shack's take: https://golfweek.com/2018/06/16/phil-mickelson-golf-legacy-loses-luster-with-breach-of-rules-us-open/

[Aflighter]

5 hours ago, graham57 said:

I have a hard time getting my head round the idea that calling an unplayable and re-placing the ball on the green would somehow be more within the spirit of the game than what Phil actually did. While I agree that it is in accordance with the letter if the rules, It would mean moving the ball not „back“ to where the last shot was played from, but forwards in terms of the hole layout, at the same time placing the ball closer to the hole, which is expressly banned in situations where a ball has to be dropped or replaced (including within Rule 28 itself (28-c), if the player chooses to drop the ball within two clublengths of where it came to rest).

This quote from an article on the USGA website demonstrates for me that the original intention of the unplayable rule was to prevent players gaining an unfair advantage:

In the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews Rules code of 1851, the player required “the consent of his adversary” to declare a ball unplayable and drop it for a one-stroke penalty. So if your opponent thought your ball was playable, he was given the opportunity to make two strokes with your ball in an attempt to move it to a playable position. If he succeeded, the two strokes your opponent made count in your score, and you must then continue play of the hole. The idea for this practice actually came from an earlier 1828 code from Burntisland Golf House Club.

Again, I don‘t dispute that the move would be legal - I just would ‚t feel any more comfortable with it than with what Phil did.

 

Amen.Oh I don't like that putt.Ill take unplayable and reputt.Yeah I see how that is so much better than doing what Phil did.Right.

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Aflighter said:

Amen.Oh I don't like that putt.Ill take unplayable and reputt.Yeah I see how that is so much better than doing what Phil did.Right.

Did you bother to read the response to that post? Or any of the responses to the similar previous posts?

What Phil did was break the Rules, show casual disregard for them, intentionally hitting a moving ball. Taking an unplayable is within the Rules.

[billchao]

4 minutes ago, Aflighter said:

Amen.Oh I don't like that putt.Ill take unplayable and reputt.Yeah I see how that is so much better than doing what Phil did.Right.

It's not IMO, but it's also perfectly legal within the rules of golf.

[boogielicious]

5 minutes ago, Aflighter said:

Amen.Oh I don't like that putt.Ill take unplayable and reputt.Yeah I see how that is so much better than doing what Phil did.Right.

This has been discussed in the previous 3 pages.  It is different. 

[Zeph]

I don't know if he disregarded the rules. He knew what he did and that he would be penalized for it. He intentionally broke a rule and was awarded penalty shots. The issue as far as I'm concerned is the behaviour in a professional tournament. If a player that's 20 shots off the lead find himself in a lateral hazard and slam the club inside it out of anger and gets a few shots penalty, that's in the same vein I'd say, maybe with the exception of this happening on the green, where Beef is also present and about to hit his putt. Phil's move could have made some impact on Beef's concentration. We've seen players getting angry at the course many times, but usually not in a way that affect their score. I don't put Phil on a blacklist (not that I have one) because of this.

[FlappyGilmore]

If accepting a stroke penalty for declaring a ball unplayable is within the rules of golf, but accepting a 2 stroke penalty for hitting a moving ball is not consider the same, the USGA needs to refine the language they use when writing the rules.

 

If an act is within the rules of the game, why are you being applied a penalty stroke?

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, FlappyGilmore said:

If an act is within the rules of the game, why are you being applied a penalty stroke?

One is a player availing himself of an option afforded to him. The other is a player intentionally breaking the rules.

They're not the same

[GolfLug]

Ah, so it is age 48 when you start losing grip on things....😋

I have only seen meltdowns like this from frustrated weekend players who are done keeping score and only hole on their mind is the 19th hole. 

Scolding everybody to 'toughen up' is laughable. Whatever dude. Now I am glad he is a non-factor this year.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by GolfLug

[Missouri Swede]

And this morning, Phil doubles down. 

He’s now saying “I wanted to do that many times, and I should have done it a couple of times at Augusta on 15 when the ball was, years ago, would go off into the hazard. That would have saved me a shot or two back then.”

So now he’s giving an example specifically cited in the RoG as a serious breach, and he doesn’t recognize it as such. 

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Missouri Swede said:

And this morning, Phil doubles down.

I think that was last night.

[Roosto]

53 minutes ago, billchao said:

It's not IMO, but it's also perfectly legal within the rules of golf.

One of the first things I learned about golf is that you play it where it lies.  Let the ball come to a rest then make your next shot.  That's golf.

[bm85]

You do something that absurd, and careless with the ball you should be kicked out of the tournament. Nothing against Phil Mickelson - the man, the person - but Phil the golfer shouldn't be allowed to play today. Makes the PGA Tour look comically soft.

[Missouri Swede]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

I think that was last night.

Ah, yes. I just saw that interview this morning. I mistook his dark green shirt from yesterday for his black shirt this morning. 

Same point.  Edit to: “and then after the round he doubled down.”

[BaconNEggs]

After the first time I heard Phil talk about the million variables he thinks about when hitting a shot (angle of the sun, high tide / low tide, air quality, etc etc) I thought he was a bit of a blowhard. 

His very after the fact explanation for why he did what he did yesterday just added to my opinion. Great golfer, seems like kind of an a-hole. 

[skydog]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

Someone said it at the course today… (I got home at 7:30 tonight)… "Imagine if Tiger had done that."

But because it's Phil, people don't care as much.

I would say this isn’t the case- many folks at ESPN, fox, and TGC have been slamming him and calling for him to pull out of the tourney. 

I think it was an asinine move by Phil but the extent to which people don’t care ( I would say I don’t care -much) is because he’s close to dead last in the field. If he were in contention and did this, then yea, we’ve got a serious problem. But because he isn’t, I don’t think Phil is ‘doing damage to the game’, more so just doing damage to himself. He would be well served to WD.

Edited June 17, 2018 by skydog

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, skydog said:

I would say this isn’t the case- many folks at ESPN, fox, and TGC have been slamming him and calling for him to pull out of the tourney.

Seriously? Cuz…no.

If Tiger had done that the reaction would have been way, way, way, way stronger.

How do I know this? Because when Tiger dropped from two yards further back, that got a much bigger reaction than this, and that pales in comparison to this.

6 minutes ago, skydog said:

I think it was an asinine move by Phil but the extent to which people don’t care ( I would say I don’t care -much) is because he’s close to dead last in the field. If he were in contention and did this, then yea, we’ve got a serious problem. But because he isn’t, I don’t think Phil is ‘doing damage to the damage’, more so just doing damage to himself. He would be well served to WD.

He's -3, so he doesn't see it that way.

He'll earn himself some cash and some OWGR points that, IMO, he doesn't deserve in the slightest.