Johnson - Harsh or not?

[freddielong]

Presuure does strange things but he got it wrong if he wasn't sure there was a rules guy there, if I was playing well in something I would have checked, he was competeing for a major he should have double and triple checked, no sympathy

 

[stevek1969]

In away it was a bit harsh,after spraying your drive into the middle of the crowd you wouldn't expect to be in a bunker would you.

But on the other hand the PGA rules official who was interviewd gave a great explanation that number 1 on the local rules was about the amount of bunkers on the course and it was posted all over the players locker room.

At the end of the day rules are rules and thats what makes this game so good,in the interviews after he looked distraught,as thats 2 majors he's thrown away ,he's still plenty time on his side tho and he hits the ball for miles,lets see if he can bounce back from this,fair play to Kaymer he went out and played his own game and let Watson smash it all over the place.

 

[CannyFifer]

Very harsh but the rules are there for everyone. Must admit it didnt look like a bunker though.
On a side note, why are you not allowed to ground the club?

 

[birdieman]

Quite harsh but correct if players were told.
I watched up to Johnson finishing 18, too late to watch playoff and I have to admit I didn't realise he had broken the rules re a hazard, I assumed it was just a sandy lie in the rough like you'd find on our links courses.

 

[birdieman]

Very harsh but the rules are there for everyone. Must admit it didnt look like a bunker though.
On a side note, why are you not allowed to ground the club?

In sand, grounding the club would improve your lie - soft sand would give with the weight of the club and you'd expose the ball more which would not be fair.

 

[funkyfred]

Apparently the PGA made it No ! on the local rules list that all sandy parts of the course should be treated as a bunker. plus as already said, notices were up in the changing rooms.
I thought to myself when I was watching live, ''his grounded his club he cant do that'' especially as the cameraman was 6 feet behind him.

As for taking Whistling Straits off the list for Majors? I think in the not to distant future that it is down for the Ryder Cup. Personally I think its a great test for the pro's. Not to sure I would fancy some of those shots to the par 3 along the coast though.

I thought I read it somewhere, the Ryder Cup is due to visit Whistling Straits in 2020, and it is scheduled to play host again to the PGA Championship in 2015.

 

[Smiffy]

Castle Stuart was littered with bunkers and waste ground that looked like bunkers but weren't.
We were told on the first tee what were and weren't "hazards".
If us bunch of numpties got round there OK but a pro can't, who's the dummy?

 

[JustOne]

The 'bunker' that he was in looked more like an animal scrape than it did a bunker, I'm surprised he wasn't actually entitled to relief! I'd bet that there was no sand within 5 feet of his ball as it looked like it had all been kicked out and was nothing more than a piece of bare dusty mud.

Very hard done by in my opinion and something that should be addressed.

Stupid course that I've decided I'm going to boycott by never playing it

 

[percy_layer]

I agree with JustOne, all the other bunkers that i saw there looked like bunkers, ie holes in the ground with sand in them. The bunker that DJ found himself in looked like a barren bit of ground that had been worn away by the thousands of spectators and with the crowd standing in it while he hit his shot it would be difficult for him to know that it was in fact a bunker.
But all credit to him dealing with it the way he did. And the PGA of America did go to extra lengths to try and keep everyone right. Its just unfortunate that it happened on the last hole when he was trying to win a Major, its too easy to second guess the guy but without being in his situation and emotional state it wouldn't be fair.
I did enjoy watching the tournament and feel that Martin Kaymer is a deserving winner.