Having played golf since I was 7, 4 years in high school and than 4 years in college, I can say I have learned a thing or two about the rules of golf. I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I can honestly say that when Michelle Wie took her “illegal” drop on Saturday’s round and found out more than 24 hours she was being disqualified, she got screwed, BIG TIME!

I won’t go into a rant saying what others have been saying, but in a nutshell the simple fact that the tape was inconclusive, they no longer could find a divot/scuff mark on the ground for her shot, the fact that she was saying it was “guess work”, the fact that she completed her final round, and the fact that it was more than 24 hours since this “rules infraction” occured makes me question her disqualification even more.

I was under the impression that once a scorecard was signed and APPROVED by the scorers that the players score was deemed acceptable. What is even crazier is simply for the fact that AFTER the final round is when Michelle had to go back to her original spot to recreate the incident. I have yet to see this happen on the PGA tour at ANY time. Not 24 hours later. Not 27 holes later.

The Sand Trap posted a comment saying

She is young and inexperienced and this is just the kind of thing that will help her learn.

Yes, this is true, except for the fact that I don’t think she did ANYTHING wrong in this situation. Calling a rules official over to investigate a situation is always a good idea, but when 99.9% of those around her, including her playing competitors have no problem with her decision and she felt confident she was doing the right thing, than I can’t say she needs to learn a lesson. As I said before, there are not a lot of things adding up to her disqualification status.

With all due respect to the LPGA and it’s rules officials, it kinda sounds like they were doing the whole “Happy Gilmore on the 18th green at midnight run” to show “Hey, welcome to the Tour”.

I know that sounds shady and it’s probably not true, but it comes off like that when viewing this circumstance as a whole.

Michelle Wie should not have been disqualified simply for a lack of evidence to her situation. If she would have come out and said, “You know what, I dropped that ball illegally” whether it was right after the incident or 2 days later, than a proper decision should have been made, but to have a reporter say, “Uh, oh, I saw her drop the ball improper…can you investigate it” and do it a day after the fact, that is shady to me.

In my opinion, spectators, television viewers, and even reporters on the course should not be allowed to try and call a rules violation. There is always so many questions involved and often times unnecessary time put into each situation that is uncalled for. Leave the rules up to the player and the actual rules officials.

We can’t have every week a caller or spectator claiming they saw something and trying to disqualify or penalize something, that just isn’t right.

Rules are Rules, and I am all for following them, but if there is inconclusive evidence, than take the player for their word. Michelle Wie doesn’t need to cheat to compete with her competitors. If Michelle Wie says she felt the drop was appropriate and she wouldn’t change a thing, than take her for her word and drop it.

Welcome to the Pro’s Michelle, sorry you got such a raw deal.

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