Pro Golf is in town!

The PGA Tour is back in the Philadelphia area this week at Aronimink. For the second and final year, the AT&T, is being played here because the usual course, Congressional Country Club near Washington, D.C., was preparing for and hosting the U.S. Open.

As many golf fans know, the Philly area went without PGA Tour golf for decades. Remember the old IVB Golf Classic at Whitemarsh? They stopped playing that event because the 1981 Open was held at Merion, and they didn’t think it was a good idea to have 2 events in the same region in the same year. We lost our spot on the schedule, and didn’t get it back.

There was a brief return near the beginning of the century, but the tournament , the Pennsylvania Classic, rotated between eastern and western PA.

Last year, our region proudly and successfully supported this tournament, and I hope we do it again. It would be great to give Tour officials plenty of reason to schedule a more permanent event here.

I checked pgatour.com for a listing of the field. There are a lot of great players here this week. There are some big names missing of course, but there is still a field crammed with wonderful players. Just to name a few who will be here: Jim Furyk, former U.S. Open winner and area native, former British Open winner Justin Leonard, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, former Masters champ Mike Weir, and former No. 1 in the world Vijay Singh.

Check the tournament web site for more information:

http://web.tigerwoodsfoundation.org/events/attNational/index

I hope to see you at Aronimink.

David Feherty show

David Feherty’s new show begins tomorrow night. The Golf Channel has been advertising it for weeks. They should, because I think it's going to be a huge hit. Feherty is going to host a talk show, with some great guests. Naturally, it will have its main focus as golf, but it looks like there will be some variety. For those who don’t know, David is a former professional golfer of some success, and has been a popular announcer for years. He’s from Northern Ireland, which has become increasingly relevant as a golf power over the last year. Last year, as fans know, Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open, and just yesterday, Rory McIroy, also from Northern Ireland, continued his amazing play to win the Open by 8 shots.

I’ve had the chance to briefly converse with Feherty. He is a very funny man, really knows his stuff when it comes to golf, and has had a very popular column on the back page of Golf Magazine. Feherty has a wonderful way of providing great insight on the game, while not losing sight of the fact that it is a game – and meant to be fun.

Rory McIroy - The new greatest player in the World?

Three rounds into the second major championship of 2011, and Rory McIlroy is positioning himself as the new greatest player in the world.

Rory’s performance this week reminds me of Tiger’s at the 1997 Masters, dominating the field and winning by a huge margin. If you have been watching on TV, you have probably heard countless comments on how Rory had a terrible fourth round at Augusta and did not win.

Many commentators expected McIlroy to fade away, the stigma of one bad round too much for him to bear.

I’m writing this about 6 hours before he tees off. I predict that this phenomenal young champion will shoot a steady 70 and win by 8 shots.

Will he have the longevity to challenge Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors or Tiger’s 14? Let’s face it; Nobody has any idea what is going to happen. But for those of us who are fans of big-time pro golf, it should be a blast to watch.

Another great Masters

I'm sure you've heard by now that there is a new Masters champion. Charl Schwartzel, a relatively unknown player from South Africa, put together one of the greatest finishes ever, canning birdies on the last four holes to nip Adam Scott and Jason Day by 2 shots.

Even though we should have seen him coming, Schwartzel never seemed to be a factor until the end. It reminded me a lot of Mark O'Meara's victory in 1998, when O'Meara snuck up on the leaders and finished off a victory with birdies on 2 of the last 3 holes.

Tiger Woods was at times his old fantastic self, shooting a blazing 32 on the first nine, but missing two short putts on the second nine to shoot 66. Woods was alternately brilliant and mediocre before finishing 4th.

It was a terrible day for the fantastic young star Rory McIroy, who shot 43 on the final nine to go from a 4 shot lead at the beginning of the day to well down the field. I thought I saw something in Rory's face before the round; a tightness that I hadn't seen from him before.

In any case, it was another fantastic Masters and yet more reason that it is my favorite sroting event and TV show of the year.

Yet another pro golf injustice

Once again, there is an intersection of two of my favorite subjects: Golf and Rules. I cannot let the opportunity to editorialize pass by.

I’m referring, of course, to the absurd result of Padraig Harrington’s disqualification from the Dubai classic for a miniscule rules violation. Paddy’s finger grazed his golf ball as he picked up his ball marker, in the process moving the ball maybe 1/32 on an inch. The movement was so minimal that he didn’t even notice.

Since he didn’t notice, he didn’t call a penalty on himself. Since he didn’t call a penalty on himself, the rationale goes; the scorecard he signed was incorrect. Since he signed an incorrect scorecard, he was disqualified.

What this amounts to is that for inadvertent moving of the ball a small fraction of an inch on a course some 7,000 yards long, he was disqualified.

The infraction does not merit this extreme of a penalty.

One of the most galling aspects to this injustice is that a television viewer noticed the infraction and “called it in”. How did the viewer get the number for the “Rules hotline”, whom did he speak to, and how did that person convince the rules official to make a ruling penalizing Paddy?

Why does golf allow amateur rules observers to impact the result of a tournament? I’m still ticked about that crazy ump ringing up Ryan Howard to end the Phillies loss to the Giants. Would they listen to me if I called to say the pitch was low?

I could elaborate for pages, but let me summarize as follows:

The rules of golf need to be changed to allow for more fair, common sense application. In other words, the penalty needs to fit the crime. Golf, whether professional or high level amateurs, should not take officiating direction from amateur viewers. And if, in hindsight, a rules violation comes to light, and a penalty needs to be assessed, a player should be allowed to “amend” his scorecard, rather than suffer disqualification.

Rules "violations" highlight need for changes

I just read an interesting piece on Golf Channel’s website about the oddities of rules violations on the PGA tour this year. See http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/poulters-blunder-latest-year-bizarre-rulings-40539/

Since my main career as a District Judge and lawyer involve interpretation of laws and rules, I feel compelled to comment.

There have been many times over the years when supposed rules violations have cost players victories or many thousands of dollars. The situation has gotten more and more attention as television covers a greater number of holes in an increasing number of tournaments.

Remember years ago when Raymond Floyd was penalized for “building a stance”? He had placed a towel on the ground to protect his knees and pants from the wet ground when he had to kneel to hit a shot. It was ridiculous. He was trying to keep his pants clean, not build a stance. He got no advantage from the towel.

Last week, Ian Poulter was penalized a shot when he dropped his ball on his ball marker, and it moved. It may have cost him more than $400,000. As reported on the Golf Channel web site, “Jeff Hall of the USGA points out, the marker is the equivalent of the ball. If Poulter’s ball had been on the green and moved ever so slightly, “I suspect most people wouldn’t have the emotional connection to a penalty,” Hall said.

“At the end of the day, our rules are clear,” Hall said. “Our game is unique from all others. It requires us to know the rules.”

Well, I disagree, Mr. Hall. Movement by Poulter’s ball on the green would only have resulted in a penalty if he had addressed it.

I also disagree with the penalty assessed to Dustin Johnson at the PGA, which cost him a chance at a playoff. The issue came down to whether he was in a clearly defined bunker. The officials said he was. I don’t think so.

I really think that the Rules of Golf need to be changed to account for plain violations which result in an advantage to a player and inadvertent ones which do not. I’d also like to see players be assigned a rules advocate. And yes, Mr. and Mrs. USGA, I’d be willing to volunteer.

Tiger now merely superb

I feel like I need to comment on the very unusual occurrence of Tiger Woods losing a final round lead to let a tournament victory slip away. Yesterday, in case you didn’t notice, Tiger scored a 7 on a par 5 on the 13th hole. 2010 U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell, meanwhile had a birdie 4. The 3 shot swing took Tiger from 1 shot ahead to 2 behind. He rallied to tie it up, but McDowell sank a superb putt in the playoff to seal the victory.
A few years ago, this kind of thing was unthinkable. Tiger was the greatest player in the world, and he almost never missed a shot or a putt when it mattered most. Now it appears that Tiger is merely a fantastic player, and not heads and shoulders above all others.
Tiger has been through a world of problems in the last year: A car accident, all sorts of tawdry revelations about his personal life, a divorce, lost endorsements, and who knows what else.
I blame Tiger’s mere excellence on more than just those things. The fact is, is that there are many great players coming up who are playing brilliantly and whose competitive spirit will drive them to try ever harder to beat the best in the world – Tiger. Besides McDowell, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Camillo Villegas, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and many others are poised to compete.
The 2011 tour starts in early January. It should be a very entertaining show. Tune in.