Golf rules enforced from the couch? RBC Heritage contestants say just get it right

Before Lexi Thompson was tripped up by an email, Stewart Cink fended off phone calls.

Cink celebrated on the 18th green of Harbour Town Golf Links after winning the Heritage in 2004 before learning viewers had called about a possible rules infraction. PGA Tour rules official Slugger White told Cink callers felt he had improved his lie in one of the course’s waste areas.

The golfer was vindicated and secured his tartan jacket after a lengthy review of the replay. It wasn’t the first and won’t be the last instance of fans as enforcers, a trait unique to golf.

The issue of armchair rules officials arose again this month when Thompson learned midway through the final round of the Ana Inspiration she had been assessed four penalty strokes for failing to replace her ball properly before a putt Saturday and then signing an incorrect scorecard.

The misstep was reported the next day by a viewer via email. Thompson learned of the penalty while leading by two on the back nine Sunday.

Golf’s ruling bodies were smart to scrap the penalty of disqualification for an incorrect scorecard, Cink said. It’s unfair those in the television spotlight are the only ones to garner calls from the couch after an accidental rules violation, Cink noted, whereas those with an early tee time Sunday receive a pass.

But nor can potential rules violations be ignored.

“If you’ve got someone at home who says I swear I saw something happen with the rules, and they don’t do something about it, then we lose respect,” Cink said. “It’s really a difficult situation.”

Cink referenced the 2016 U.S. Open, when Dustin Johnson won after playing the final several holes under the shadow of a looming one-shot penalty. At the U.S. Women’s Open the following month, Anna Nordqvist lost to Brittany Lang lost after a high-definition replay showed her ground her club in a bunker during a three-hole playoff.

Cink’s rules run-in wasn’t the most recent at Harbour Town, though the finish between Jim Furyk and Brian Davis in 2010 required no couch call-ins.

Davis, trying for his first PGA Tour win, instead called a two-shot penalty on himself during the playoff for moving a reed during his backswing while in a hazard off the 18th green.

The situation was different from Thompson’s in that it was recognized immediately and confirmed by replay.

“I think it’s tough to have something happen that late in the game, probably almost 24 hours after the infraction,” Furyk said. “And I know there’s been some folks negative about the armchair rules official, but you want to get things right as well.”

LPGA Tour officials acknowledged the unfortunate timing after the Thompson finish and were asked whether they anticipated the pending blowback.

“Sure, but what’s my choice?” Sue Witters, the LPGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competition, said after the Ana Inspiration. “A violation in the rules and then it would be the opposite story: ‘Oh, they knew, why didn’t they do anything about it?’ I can’t go to bed tonight knowing that I let a rule slide.

“You know, it’s a hard thing to do, and it made me sick, to be honest with you.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Golf rules enforced from the couch? RBC Heritage contestants say just get it right."