Wie's Disqualification: Editors' Blog: Golf Digest

Wie's Disqualification

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Comments

Michael Auerbach of Phoenix, Maryland, doesn't blame Michelle Wie for her disqualification at the State Farm. How, he says, could the scoring officials let this happen? He brings up the disqualification of Jesper Parnevik and Mark Roe at the 2003 British Open for forgetting to exchange cards. Peter Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union makes the same connection today. But while Dougherty concludes, "rules are rules", reader Auerbach comes to a different conclusion:

In the wake of the Wie disqualification I am reminded by the golfer in the top three after 54 holes of the British open who was disqualified because his scores were kept on Jesper Parnevik's card. Those in the scoring tent having nothing to do but accept and check cards. Their job requires only marginal skill and it should be their responsibility to insure that horror stories like that which just occurred on the LPGA tour are obviated. The Britisher's career never recovered from the draconian decision by the R & A to uphold the disqualification when it was abundantly clear there was no intent to do wrong and no one knows the emotional impact this utterly ridiculous edict will have on an already emotionally scarred child. The golf score card is not holy. It should be the responsibility of those in the scorers tent, to make sure what has become a holy grail, is accurate so the now frighteningly dwindling golf audience can be spared the repugnance that occurred, yet again, last Saturday.

Mike, I agree that if I'm the tournament director of the State Fame Classic I'm pulling my hair out over this one. That's the scorers team's job: Don't let there be a screw-up! That said, anyone who's ever played in an event knows that job 1 is to keep the fellow competitor's score and one's own and the minute you finish to get it checked, signed and submitted. It's like counting your clubs on the first tee. In this case, there's plenty of blame to go around. But it begins with the player, whether it's Wie or anyone else. Good post here by lpgahf9 on the subject here.

--Bob Carney

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Archived Comments (2) Click to expand

I agree with Michael and I would like to add that I have rarely read anything as illogical as Ron Sirak's article on the subject. His case is based on the fact that not everything a golfer does on the course is seen by others but that does not apply in this case. It was not something she did on the course but something she did after her round that was seen by many people. Absolutely if she breached a rule while she was playing she should be disqualified but this was a technicality after the round that had no impact on anything that matters. I also believe that she did not breach 6 as she did turn her card in as soon as possible.

Posted by kenoc July 23, 2008 12:53 PM

Sirak made an attempt to justify the rule that the card has to be signed at a certain location. He did a very poor job and convinced most that he can do what he is told whether it makes sense or not. Rules that make little sense need to be modified.The obvious question is why is it important to sign in a specific location? Do we not trust the golfer?
If you sign your card 4 inches from the designated area, it is a violation but why have such a rule?
What is the value?
The card needs to be signed and if not,the round should not count.
Rules should be reviewed frequently to make sure they are still reasonable and make sense.

Posted by alisocourt July 23, 2008 4:14 PM