Photo From Google Images
Dustin Johnson; Penalized two strokes on the 18th hole of the PGA Championship for grounding in the bunker at Whistling Straits.
I’m rooting for my friend and former classmate from college who is battling for his first major and you can just see the determination on his face that he’s going to win! Then, I heard the ruling.
Why is the gallery in the bunker? Why is there trash in the bunker? And where’s the rake? Talk about a hazard… Maybe it was a bunker at the beginning of the week, but it wasn’t a bunker on Sunday evening. Yes, I understand that there were memos all around the club house, but how do you determine a bunker when the gallery is standing over it? Does the rules official have to tell Johnson that he’s in a bunker, no. But could he have told him, YES! Given the circumstances and the unidentifiable lines of the bunker, why didn’t he tell Johnson he was in a bunker? Why wouldn’t Price have asked the crowd to move back?
The rules official for the final group on Sunday was David Price, who is also the head golf professional at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas. He had to break the news to Johnson. Price said “I’m going to let him play out the hole so that it doesn’t change the way he plays a shot or anything like that in case there wasn’t a violation. As he’s putting I’m thinking, ‘I could be going up to the PGA champion to tell him he’s not really the champion.’ He missed the putt, which didn’t make it any better, but I immediately went up to talk to him.” Price had to tell Johnson immediately so Johnson would not sign the score card. If Johnson would have signed the score card he would have been disqualified and that would have cost Johnson thousands of dollars in prize money.
Some argued that the other players didn’t break the rule all week, well… at least not that we know of. Each golfer didn’t have a personal cameraman following them all week and still no one is able to tell how many bunkers are on the course. Mr. Dye, there’s a reason spectators are not standing in the bunkers at Augusta National and there’s a reason grown men break down in tears looking down Magnolia Lane, but there’s no reason for an over designed course where players can not break down the bunkers from the dirt.
Dustin was a class act in how he handled the situation. He remained calm and once he was told the area of sand was a bunker he admitted that he had grounded in the bunker. Even with a Major title on the line Dustin never blamed anyone for the mistake. You have to admire that the future of golf is going to remain as classy as those who have pioneered the game. He took the high road and made Coastal Carolina Alumni proud to be a Chanticleer and he won the hearts of popularity in the gallery. Dustin, we are all rooting for you!
Dustin Johnson just became the Armando Galarraga of golf and the player we will remember from the 2010 PGA Championship.