Should We Be Allowed to Play Armchair Referee ?

Guest post from Kevin Hill of The Urban Golfer.

In our 2011 predictions earlier this month we were talking about who would win which tournament not which high profile players would be DQ’ed by TV viewer call in’s.  The first 3 weeks of the PGA and European Tours we have seen both Camilo Villegas and Padraig Harringon get disqualified for rules violations that were brought to the attention of the rules committees (USGA and R&A) by TV viewer call in’s. What other sport can this happen in? Most American sports have instant replay, heck even baseball has instituted a form of instant replay for controversial homeruns.  The comment boards have been lighting up with people crucifying the PGA tour on the fact that the average golf TV viewer can call in and affect a tournament.  Everyone is trying to compare Golf to other major sports saying, “What if I called in during the 9th inning of game 7 of the World Series showing evidence of a runner being tagged out at second?”   The fact is by the time you called in to MLB the winning team would be showering each other with bubbly and Bud Light.   To use the old cliché it is like comparing oranges (Golf) to apples (all other major sports).

Golf is its own thing whether you call it a sport or an activity, that is an entirely another discussion for another day.  To sum this up we think that Golf needs to look within and figure this out.  Sports including Hockey, College FB, NFL and MLB all polled their own and figured out what would work best for them regarding instant replay and changing calls that ultimately affect the outcome of the game.  To quote a few European players regarding the recent rules violation here is what they had to say, both from the Guardian out of the UK:

"The rules of golf are complete bollocks and are stuck back in 1932," said Ian Poulter, using Twitter. Paul Casey was more temperate, suggesting it was time to introduce an "open card" rule, whereby a player who found himself in Harrington's position would be penalised for his offence but allowed to carry on playing.

The US Open champion Graeme McDowell had a word for the person who sent an email to a European Tour website pointing out Harrington's mistake – "Anorak." He added. "Some people have got too much time on their hands."

Don’t get me wrong, players have to know the rules but something needs to be done to figure this out before it happens on 18 at Augusta National to decide The Masters.

Thanks,

Guest post from Kevin Hill, The urban male who enjoys golf, the 19th hole, fashion and travel.  

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