Who is at fault at the PGA?

If you are an avid golf fan, you already know about the fiasco that took place on the final hole at the PGA Championship yesterday! The question that is on everyone's mind is, "Who is at fault?"

Dustin Johnson waded through thousands of spectators to the right of the 18th fairway to find his tee shot. He had a one-shot lead over two players in the clubhouse, and all he needed was a par to win his first major. Virtually everyone was rooting for him after what happened to him two months ago at the last major, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Dustin found his ball when the crowd opened up and he saw some rough ground about six feet by six feet in size. The crowd covered the ground around that spot, thousands of them.

It took about ten minutes before enough of the crowd toward the green could move and give Dustin a target to shoot for. He looked over his shot, then hit a thundering five iron 237 yards to a heavy lie 20 yards over the green. He lofted a wedge to six feet of the pin. One six-foot putt to win his first major. He didn't quite hit the putt firmly enough, and it fell short to the right. He tapped in for bogie, then headed to the scoring trailer to sign his score card, and then he would be going to the tenth tee for the three-way, three hole playoff for the championship. WRONG!

A PGA official walked up to Dustin at greenside and informed him that there might be a problem with a penalty being incurred during his second shot on the 18th hole.

After the smoke cleared about fifteen minutes later it was decided that Dustin was in a sand trap on the right of 18 and he had grounded his club, which is a two-stroke penalty. He thus took a triple-bogie, and was not in the playoff!

The reigning PGA official walked in front of the cameras with a "rules sheet" they had handed out to each player on Monday listing the special rule that applied for the week regarding the bunkers. When he read the rule, it seemed to appease everyone, including myself.

Then the media interviewed several tour players, who said, "They hand out such a rules sheet every tournament, and nobody reads them."

Then the regular tour commentators asked the PGA official about that rules sheet, and such questions as, "What about the fact that the spectators were standing in your so-called bunker? How can it be a sand trap when 25 spectators are standing in it?"

The official again stood by his rules sheet, which technically is the final say in that situation.
Then he was asked about the PGA official who was walking with Dustin's twosome. "Why didn't he step forward when Dustin found his ball and tell Dustin he was in a sand trap?"

The head official then said, "We don't want our officials hovering over every player during a round; we just want them nearby if a player has a question about the rules."

The whole situation is frustrating to everyone, players and spectators. Please allow me to give you my take on it all.

Back during the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, I predicted on Tuesday, two days before the tournament started, that Dustin Johnson would win the Open. He had a three-shot lead after Saturday's round. I told my son who was sitting beside me that if I was Dustin's caddy, I would tell him to leave the premises and go to dinner with some friends and relax, and get away from any press. He had been relaxed all week, and led the tournament as a result.

Instead, Dustin responded affirmatively to all media requests for an interview, which was a huge mistake on his part. The media told him that his being relaxed was all wrong, that his leading the U.S. Open required that he be nervous beyond belief! The result was nervousness on Dustin's part starting Sunday morning, and he blew up to an 82 in the final round!

Yesterday, when Dustin and his caddy walked up to his drive among all those spectators, the first thing that should have happened was Dustin's caddy letting him know he might be in a bunker, and then they should have called over the PGA official that was walking with them.

Yes, that's right. I blame the caddy. These guys carrying the bags on tour are not simply bag carriers, they are their player's manager and adviser as well. Their job is to do the thinking for their player, so all he has to do is swing the clubs that are handed to him by his caddy.

Dustin is a nice guy, a "country bumpkin" in my opinion. Thinking is not his strong point. Golf, as I have stressed for months, is played between the ears, and is 90% mental, and 10% mental. That is the reason Tiger is playing poorly this year, his mind is on his personal problems, his divorce, his children.

Tour players have to think about one thing, hitting their golf ball. Whatever their caddy can do to keep them from thinking about or worrying about anything else is tantamount to their winning tournaments.

Dustin's caddy needs to learn that, and learn it quickly. If he does not, he should learn another profession.