Lexi Thompson vs. the Rules of Golf

So Yeon Ryu won the ANA Inspirational this weekend, the first major of the year in womens golf. However, the conclusion of the tournament is surrounded by a highly controversial penalty that cost Lexi Thompson the championship.

On the 17th green during Saturday’s round, Thompson decided to mark her ball before putting out. When she replaced the ball, it was returned to about an inch from the original position. Rule 20-7c states that a player who fails to return their ball to the original spot should be assessed a two-stroke penalty. However, this penalty wasn’t enforced till the 13th tee during the final round, as a result of an anonymous email from a TV viewer. Therefore, when Lexi signed her card on Saturday, she was unknowingly signing for an improper score, which under Rule 6-6d resulted in another two stroke penalty.

Lexi walked off the 12th green on Sunday with a 3 shot lead and walked onto the 13th tee down by one stroke, which quickly turned into a two point deficit. She did all she could, making birdie on 3 of the last 6 holes, including a closing birdie on the 18th. However, her efforts just weren’t quite enough to overcome So Yeon Ryu, who birdied the first playoff hole to take home the title.

This is the third rules debacle in the past year during a major tournament. The late ruling with DJ luckily didn’t affect the tournament, but Anna Nordqvist’s delayed penalty could have drastically affected the outcome of the tournament had she known about it before reaching the final hole. Another controversial and costly ruling brings the USGA and R&A’s old, outdated rules into the spotlight yet again. Obviously, when the first rules of golf were first drafted, they couldn’t have anticipated the scrutiny that players are under as a result of the modern media and TV replays. However, the failure by the USGA and R&A to update these outdated rules still leaves them as the ones to blame. I personally think that Tiger Woods said it best when he said that “Viewers at home should not be wearing stripes”. Rickie Fowler suggested that there be a TV official who monitors the live broadcast and has the power to spot a violation and make a ruling, but the fact that a single anonymous fan can have such a drastic effect on such a major tournament is absurd.

Did Lexi deserve to win the tournament? My answer is a reluctant yes, because despite the ridiculous penalty, I don’t want to take anything away from So Yeon Ryu. She played her heart out to get into contention on Sunday, and was the winner of the playoff, fair and square. However, it’s just unfortunate that such a major accomplishment in Ryu’s life is overshadowed by such controversy. As for Lexi, she fought back the tears, did everything she could and still kept her composure enough to still have a great chance of winning. Though she didn’t get the chance to jump into Poppy’s pond again, she earned the respect of golf fans around the world, myself included. Nothing can compare to taking home the trophy, but I hope it was some consolation that she had the support of the entire golfing world to carry her through the rest of the tournament.

Written by Paul Choma