Wie's DQ: Unfortunate, Harsh, Disappointing - and By the Book
Based on the comments left on my first post about this matter, there seems to be a conspiracy theory building steam among some Wie fans that the LPGA Tour was somehow behind this - that the Tour and tournament officials were oh-so-happy to jump on an opportunity to screw Wie over.
I'll be blunt: This view is nuts. Why would tournament officials intentionally set out to "get" a golfer they had extended an invitation to in the first place? Why would the LPGA Tour set out to get a golfer who brings in bigger crowds and higher TV ratings than any other player on tour when she is in contention?
The LPGA Tour is desperate for Michelle Wie to regain her former form and join the Tour full-time. The tour and tournament officials, I guarantee you, were doing cartwheels over the fact that Wie was playing great and in contention. The notion that tour and tournament officials are happy about this is ridiculous. The Tour has bent over backward at every opportunity to recruit and accomodate Wie, not to "get her." (How some of her peers feel about it might be another matter ... and tournament officials definitely deserve criticism for not informing Wie until she'd completed the third round.)
The LPGA Tour has rules. Not just the official Rules of Golf, but also conditions of competition - local rules, in place at individual events, put in place by the "committee" (in this case, the LPGA Tour). Those "local rules" are every bit as inviolable as the rules spelled out in the Official Rules of Golf.
And people, rules are rule.
Look: Longtime readers of this site know that I am a big fan of Michelle Wie's talent, and that I am a strong believer in her potential to be one of the greatest female golfers of all-time. I'm very unhappy about this, and greatly saddened by it.
But she broke a rule. Plain and simple. She broke a rule. And the penalty for the rule she broke is disqualification. That may seem harsh, that may seem unfair. It may seem even moreso when the specifics of Wie's case are known: That she wasn't even far from the scorer's tent before volunteers working the tent quickly chased her down, had her return and sign the scorecard.
But as a professional golfer, it is Wie's responsibility to know the rules. And signing your scorecard? Duh! That's one of the most basic rules of all! And the LPGA's conditions of competition clearly define the point at which a golfer is considered to have turned in her card:
A player is deemed to have returned her score card to the Committee when she leaves the roped area of the scoring tent or leaves the scoring trailer.
Wie left that area, and at the moment she left that area, her scorecard was deemed officially "returned." And since she hadn't signed it, she was officially in violation of Rule 6-6b, and the penalty for a breach of Rule 6-6b is disqualification. There is no equivocation, no wiggle room. Tournament officials, learning of the violation, had no choice but to do what they did. (Well, I suppose they could have ignored their own rules and let Wie break the rules with impunity, but does that seem like a good idea?)
Wie failed to sign her scorecard. So she was disqualified. It sucks, but it's happened many times before in golf, and it will surely happen again, and the disqualification was completely by the book.
There are three parties at fault here:
- Wie, for violating the rule.
- Her caddie, for not double-checking her in the scorer's tent.
- The volunteers working that scoring tent for not immediately checking the scorecard to make sure it was signed.
One can believe and argue that disqualification is too harsh a penalty for this violation. But, sorry, rules don't get changed retroactively because a player we like was just assessed that harsh penalty.
And having said all that, I hope she puts this behind her, focuses on her great play this week, continues to build on this success, and wins the Canadian Women's Open in August.
Comments
why did they wait after learning earlier in the day, ratings?
Yep, but stupid… should have waited until after the final round and after she won… would have ensured golf immortality for the SFC and for the LPGA, not just high ratings.
Sorry, I’m not buying this line. Sue Witter clearly got enjoyment out of the disqualification. She was as happy as spoiled rich kid on christmas morning.
When an official misses a call in a real sport if it isn’t enforced before the next play it is just a blown call.If the officials became aware of this prior to her first tee time she should never hav e tee,d off.Once she ted off she should have been pulled from the course at that moment,
To have allowed her to continue to play once the decision was made was GUTLESS
Your remark -
I’ll be blunt: This view is nuts. Why would tournament officials intentionally set out to “get” a golfer they had extended an invitation to in the first place? Why would the LPGA Tour set out to get a golfer who brings in bigger crowds and higher TV ratings than any other player on tour when she is in contention?
shows that you don’t understand the way that pro golf tournaments work.
Michelle Wie received a sponsor’s exemption into the tournament. That means that she was invited by the local tournament committee and its sponsor, State Farm Insurance, to play in their tournament.
Michelle was disqualified by LPGA officials NOT local tournament officials. The LPGA has no control over who gets the sponsors exemptions into the tournament. And the local tournament has no control over the rules of golf.
The group that invited Michelle was not the same group that disqualified her. Rightly or wrongly, there has been bad blood between Michelle and the LPGA tour. I don’t know whether this came into play in the decision to DQ her or not (I would hope it didn’t).
Her invite to play means that State Farm and the Springfield Illinois community wanted her there. It doesn’t mean that the LPGA and the rest of the touring pros wanted her there.
Mr. Brent Kelley,
You are grossly wrong. The first party at falut is the LPGA official. They should have declined to accept the score card, disqualified her on the spot, and not let her play the third bogus round. We, viewers, and Wie have been deceived and ridiculed by LPGA.
Rules are rules BUT did the LPGA really do it by the book? What’s the point of letting Wie finish the third round to let her explain herself if the DQ decision was so black and white.
I don’t think anyone believes in changing the rules but letting her play the full third round was cruel and Sue Witters at the very least should retract her statement of how Michelle reacted…what does the P in LPGA stand for?
The AFP fuller version of the report confuses things further. Sue Witter gets a better write up but is it typical that players get considered for DQ as a result of hearsay? Credit to Michelle for her honesty when asked but she obviously thought she had not broken the rules.
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“In fact, what Wie did was sign the card after leaving the defined scoring area, which LPGA officials said amounts to a violation of the rule.
“It’s just really unfortunate,” Wie said. “I don’t know what happened to me. Usually, I sign it first. But I forgot to sign the scorecard.
“Unfortunately, I left the tournament area, and a couple of the scorers went after me. And I signed it, and I turned it in. And I thought it would be OK.
“But it was an honest mistake. I just forgot to sign it,” she said. As a result of the mix-up, Wie’s five-under third-round effort, which included seven birdies and briefly left her one shot behind Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, was wiped out.
Instead of challenging for the crown on Sunday, Wie will again be on the sidelines, another disappointment in the rocky road she has travelled since breaking her wrist last year.
LPGA director of tournament competitions Sue Witters said that tournament officials didn’t hear of the incident until Saturday morning, after Wie had teed off.
“It’s one of those cases where nobody realized they were doing anything wrong,” Witters said. “The volunteer said they were being helpful. Michelle was like, ‘Oh, OK, Geez, how silly.’”
Witters said an LPGA employee happened to hear someone refer to the situation, and asked what happened.
“That’s when we realized what we had on our hands,” Witters said. “The problem was everyone had teed off. And the last thing you want to do is disrupt the round.”
LPGA officials spoke with volunteers in the scoring tent to get their version of events, and spoke with Wie and her caddie after the round. All agreed about what had happened.
“The problem was she left the scoring area,” Witters said. “The card should be returned immediately. Once you leave the scoring area, even if it’s one step, the whole body is outside the rope line area, it’s done…
“It was an honest mistake on her behalf,” Witters added. “Once it was brought to her attention, and we asked her to tell us what she recalled from yesterday once she got in the scoring tent, she about verbatim told us what we were told by a few of the volunteers.
“Never at any point did she try to deceive us. She couldn’t have been more honest.”
Witters said telling Wie she was disqualified was “Rotten.” “She was like looking at a little kid after you tell them there’s no Santa Claus.”
And Witters said the young player deserved praise for her response. “The look on her face, you could see it all come together and click,” Witters said. “She was just horrified.
“I give her credit for coming in here today (to make a public statement), because she didn’t have to.”
Brent,
I think UncleLar has this right. The local event committees want Michelle at their event since she brings in huge crowds. When I’ve seen her in the past she has some of the biggest galleries. The LPGA and most of the players have no love for Michelle and I really think that they took great delight in DQing her. She was almost assured a tour card for next year and now they won’t have to worry about her for at least another year since she has indicated no wish to go to Q school.
Golf picks and chooses its stars and the LPGA and USGA seem to have it in for Michelle.
On the other hand K.J. Choi seemed to get a pass on their “rules” yesterday. Since TV insists on close ups on balls and clubs on the greens, Choi’s club clearly was grounded on 10. He pulled it back and the ball moved. Even one of the announcers said so, but the other announcers ignored it as did the officials.
Perhaps the golf Gods think it would look to lily white to disqualify two golfers of Korean blood in one day. Since Choi has now signed an incorrect score card, he should be DQed now also.
Sorry Brent, but I disagree with you. I really think there were some champagne toasts last night between LPGA players and tour officials.
I totally disagree with commenters who think the LPGA is happy about this. Some of the players on the LPGA, sure, some of them have a lot of jealousy or animosity towards Wie. But the LPGA Tour has let Wie do basically anything she wants throughout her career. Because they need her, and need her badly.
But that’s not even my point in commenting. My point is this: Even if LPGA Tour officials are for some reason happy about this (which makes absolutely no sense at all, but just for the sake of argument …), what does it matter?
Either you apply the punishment called for in the rules of golf when the rules or broken, or you are breaking the rules yourself. Wie broke the rules, she got the punishment called for. It’s as simple as that.
as a steadfst wie fan i have two thoughts:
1. i do think the lpga has it in for wie becasue she had the audacity to try to challenge the men as if the plga wasn’t god enough for her–as a result, they want to penalize her, humble her at every chance. they still want he on the lpga but after she suffers indignities to pay for what she did. i for one believe that she should not join the lpga ever, just win their events, and majors-she should join the european tour, ten kick ass all over the globe-to hell with the lpga
2. i’m really, really pissed at michelle for acting like a spoiled brat whose parents do everything for her–she’s either the spoiled brat or the dumbest, ditziest girl in the sport–i have made excuses fr her over the years, and she’s only 18, but when is she going to take real responsibility for her life? her pareants do not seem to have raised her to take control of her life like earl woods did for tiger–michelle needs a mentor like mark o’meara was for tiger, not her parents–and these idiot cadddies thay hire for her who allow her to make stupid mistakes, why can’t they hire a veteran caddie who will honestly help her–i’m really pissed and this spoiled my sunday of watching michelle take this tournamaent and get revenge from tseng for that loss years ago
I’ve really had it up to HERE with the media hype of this mediocre teenie-bopper. She needs to go away from the public view, grow up, practice a lot and then- and only then- come back to competition with the “big girls”. She is not a man – so stay out of the men’s tournaments – if she has the talent ( and the jury is still out on that one) there will be plenty of time for her to prove herself. So far all I have seen is a spoiled teenage brat that comes up with an excuse everytime she screws up.
The LPGA has perverted 6.6b. 6.6b only specifies that the signed card be returned ‘as soon as possible’. Within both the letter and intent of 6.6b, Ms Wie’s actions were perfectly acceptable.
Furthermore he LPGA’s rule re: leaving the scoring area is not a legal ‘local rule’ as allowed by USGA 33.8, which requires that ‘local rules’be consistent with appendix I. I don’t see anything in appendix I that permits the LPGA’s rule.
Finally, the LPGA did have the authority to waive the DQ per USGA 33-7.
No 12 Comment to you I say amen. She needs to grow up. She has no love of golf, or dedication to the sport, only love of publicity and money. A truely spoiled whinney BRAT.
Could it be thay by waiting until Michelle finished Saturday’s round before she was DQed the LPGA was quaranteed the extra thousands of fans that showed up to specifically see her on play”
no 12:
i agree that she needs to grow up, but your comments sound like a male chauvinist, and that would disqualify you for obvious reasons
to question if she has talent is equally ridiculous-she once scored seven birdies in a PGA round-i don’t think any female on the LPGA could avedone that, not even annika, who was playing well during that time–there are many PGA tour players who have yet to score seven birdies in a round
there is really no question that she needs to mature, but her talent is undeniable
So when do we get to read about the committee at the SFC get DQ’d? Here is a direct quote from the USGA site stating that a Member of the Committee should ENSURE the player signs the card…..ooops….Somebody at the LPGA sure went overboard on Wie but doesnt seem interested in applying the rules equally to players and committee officials alike. As stated in an earlier post, they could have waived the DQ they thought they HAD to impose.
Quote from USGA site.
In stroke play, a member of the Committee who is knowledgeable about the Rules of Golf should receive the score cards from the players at the conclusion of the stipulated round. The person receiving the score cards should a) ask the players to check their hole by hole scores and if there are any Rules questions or issues to resolve, b) ensure that the competitor and his marker have both signed the score card, and c) suggest that the player remain in the scoring area until the score card has been checked. Changes to the player’s score card may not be made once the score card has been returned (see Rule 6-6c and Decision 6-6c/1)
I totally disagree on the conspiracy theory against Ms Wie. In fact, on another thread I speculate on a “possible reason” for the delayed disqualification.
Logic would dictate that they are more than thrilled to have Wie play she brings interest to the sport and with TV ratings. However, failure to follow rules is at hand. But, she did sign the scorecard did she not? The signature, however, violated the rule of sigining within the confines of the tented area. Her returning later, after volunteers chased her down, is in clear violation of the stated rules. However, I may speculate that officials may have “turned their heads” only to allow her to continue playing to keep interest (i.e.- ratings) up. Therefore, what may have triggered the change to later disqualify her may have been the result of a complaint by another player who heard about the fact that this “faux pas” signature took place. Does thisb not seem to be a viable reason that fits the delayed disqualification? Could they have let it go had not “possibly” someone else complained? What done is done, but I will state again that the diqualification penalty is assinine. The intent of the signature should merely to be for disputing what officials mark on the card. If done after the fact as she did, the only LOGICAL penalty is to have her forfeit the right to dispute what is recorded.
for FL Golfer/Hacker, BREAKING NEWS: MW scheduled for the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open with the men (PGA) next week. Yippeeeee, the saga continues and now scrambling to find out who will provide the TV coverage. Gotta get the popcorn ready.
Does signing the scorecard truly srve a purpose? A scorer is with each group; An opponent records your score; golfer maintains own score. Signature or not, in today’s game environment, do any incorrect scores get by. But most of all, why should failure to sign a corrected scorecard result in a DQ? We all talk about the integrity of the game, sportsmanship, etc., but this rule seems to be a contradiction to what golf supports!