USGA & R&A ADJUST RULING

By mustang6560 on 4/7/11

The USGA and R&A announced today it will no longer disqualify players who are "unaware" they signed an incorrect scorecard due to a penalty assessed post round.

This revision to Decision 33-7/4.5 addresses the situation where a player is not aware he has breached a Rule because of facts that he did not know and could not reasonably have discovered prior to returning his scorecard. Under this revised decision and at the discretion of the Committee, the player still receives the penalty associated with the breach of the underlying Rule, but is not disqualified.

In revising the decision, The R&A and the USGA confirm that the disqualification penalty still applies for scorecard breaches that arise from ignorance of the Rules of Golf. As such, this decision reinforces that it is still the responsibility of the player to know the Rules, while recognizing that there may be some rare situations where it is reasonable that a player is unaware of the factual circumstances of a breach.

All I have to say "It's about time!". Anyone familiar with golf knew it was only a matter of time before the USGA and R&A adjusted this ruling. With the advancement in technology, it was not fair for players to be disqualified for "unknowingly" signing an incorrect scorecard because they were assessed a two stroke penalty post round.

Interestingly enough though, this ruling would not have prevented Camilo Villegas from being disqualified. Camilo's rules violation was the result of his ignorance of the rules. The USGA and R&A changed the rules to protect the players who are "unaware" they violated a rule and not the players who violated a rule because of personal negligence of the rules.

I would like to commend the USGA and R&A for updating this ruling. People like to crack on the ruling bodies of golf for being out of touch with golf so it's important to point out when they do something good. At the end of the day, fans don't want to see their favorite players disqualified for a silly technicality.



Full Story

photo source