I
realize this comes a bit late, especially in an instant gratification kind of
world, but the end result of my whirlwind of assignments at the Women’s Amateur
Four-Ball was a nasty cold that took a few days to get over, all the while
preparing for tomorrow’s Women’s Open Sectional. That said, from a Rules perspective, I didn’t
have a terribly exciting set of matches.
From the Referee’s perspective…that’s a good thing.
Outside Agencies
I
forgot to post a little picture of this guy who visited us on the 11th
tee during the second round of stroke play.
All the while we were watching whales in the distance.
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| This guy was not afraid of us...He'd been fed before... |
Thank You
I say
it a lot to our own volunteers, and I hear it a lot when working a USGA
Championship, but I also want to say thank you to a few people that made the
Championship a wonderful experience. First to the SIC Rachel Graves, thank you
for the invite and the trust to give me such great assignments. Great first championship! To David Staebler for the bits of wisdom
during setup and elsewhere along the way, always a pleasure working with you.
To Shannon, Tracy and Pam it was fun working with you, sorry you had to spend
so much time watching my groups (you too David). To Ken Dunphy who had to put up with me
sending him extra stuff to look at during a championship and Peg, the true
magician making sure everything was in its right place. To the rest of the USGA staff on site, you
all did a wonderful job.
To
Bandon Dunes, I’m just going to name Jeff Simonds although I know he’s the
leader of the pack of a whole bunch of well-trained staff that assisted in
making the experience great. I’ll be
back there soon enough!
My Assignments
My assignments
did change slightly since the initial post.
I was the referee for the medalists in round 1 of match play. The medalists won, and I was then asked to
step-in to be the referee for the second round as well as the original referee
had to cancel. I went around again in the afternoon as an observer with the
medalists again, but that time they lost. I finished off the week with the
semi-final match between O’Sullivan/Ree and Herr/Walker which ended on the 16th
hole. So for the week I walked 36 holes in stroke play (plus 9 holes setup), 14
holes as referee in the round of 32, 18 holes as referee in the round of 16, 15
holes as an observer in the quarter finals and 16 holes as referee in the
semi-finals. All in all 108 holes in 5
days and at Pacific Dunes - I’d gladly
do 108 more.
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| 13th Green during the Quarter-Finals with the camera boom in the back |
The Rulings
I
really had very, very few rulings of note. I will discuss three (2 ½ really).
Three Rules for One Sprinkler Head:
On the second hole a player’s ball came to rest on a
sprinkler head. The nearest point of relief was clear and she measured the one
club-length from there. She dropped within the one
club-length and Rule 24-2 was done. The
ball rolled closer to the hole than the nearest point of relief so Rule 20-2c
took over and she re-dropped. The
re-drop rolled closer to the hole and so 20-2c required a place. When the ball was placed it would not stay at
rest, so Rule 20-3d took over and the ball was replaced where it finally came
to rest and the ball was properly in play. It felt good running the rules
through my head as I was working with the player in this situation.
Collision Course (x3):
Typically,
golf balls colliding is a fairly rare ruling to get. I had 3 during my 108 holes. Two of which, occurred in the first four
holes of the semi-final match. On the very first hole, Walker’s approach from
the fairway one hopped directly onto her partner’s ball that was at rest on the
putting green. It was actually
unfortunate because without the collision the side would’ve had two chances at
birdie from about 10 feet, and instead had one shot at birdie and a really
difficult pitch. I called the observer
who had a good eye on the spot where Herr’s ball was moved from and the ruling
was fairly simple. Rule 18-5 requires
the ball that was moved to be replaced.
Rule 19-5 requires the other ball to be played as it lay.
Three
holes later, Herr’s approach was short and at rest below the slope on the 4th
putting green when Walker’s pitch failed to reach to the top of the slope and
the ball slowly started rolling back down and sure enough collided once again
with Herr’s ball. We had just been
through this and their opponent was very near the collision and able to point
to the spot. Moved ball replaced, other
ball played from its final spot. Rule
18-5 and 19-5 tend to trip people up on exams, but in reality the rulings were
quite easy and quick. (The third collision was on the final hole of stroke play
when Lila Barton’s ball after a pitch collided with a member of the other side’s
ball on the putting green. I had the spot and again the replacement was quick
and easy).
The Lessons
Pace of Play:
While I didn’t have many rulings I
did get to learn a lot about match play pace of play. All three of the matches I refereed were on
the clock at some point in time. Truth
be told, none of the players were particularly slow themselves. Their routines were normal. What killed their
pace was not being ready to play. I
remember watching one side take more than the permitted 40 seconds just trying
to decide which partner would play first!
We only run one championship where match play pace of play really comes
into effect and we haven’t had any issues that required timing recently so
seeing it in action was fabulous (except that it was my group on the clock…)
The lesson learned was the proper
application because of the subjectivity of timing. The group was informed they had a hole to
regain position. When they did not, they were timed. Everything was included in
the given 40 seconds – caddie discussion, club decisions, routines, partner
discussion. It didn’t matter, they had 40
seconds to play. The warnings were issued immediately and in most cases the
timing worked. The groups regained
position or at least played more quickly (my first match was on the clock from
the 7th hole to its conclusion without a warning issued). One of the most interesting aspects of this
process was the four-ball impact. Even
though it is four-ball, individuals are timed and individuals are issued
warnings. This means that two
individuals one the same side could both receive a warning. If, however, only one member of the side
receives a second bad time, the side loses the hole. So a side as a whole might actually get 3
total bad times before losing a hole, but an individual still only gets the one
warning before costing the side a hole in the match.
Who’s Away:
I carry
a Gotcha. For luck (thanks JVB I still carry the one you gave me). Unless you’re within several feet of the hole it is
generally a waste of time to use the Gotcha. I was complimented on my quick
determinations of who was away when asked.
I say this not because I took the job lightly: order of play is
important in match play and can play a huge role in a match. I say this in part because of what you saw
above…pace of play is important too. If
I need to pace off to make a call, I will.
If I’m within 5 feet and need the Gotcha, I’ll use it. But my first call is to stand halfway between
the golf balls in question, face the hole and see which ball is farther. I don’t
say, “I think you’re away,” or “it looks like you’re away,” I point and say, “That ball
is away.” If the player asks for a measurement I’ll give it to them, but it’s
usually not necessary.
This
came into play when the TV cameras started rolling. One reminder we tell players when match play
begins is that it is their show, not ours.
We stay out of the way as referees.
We don’t go on the putting green unless asked, we stay only close enough
to be reached if needed and we don’t stand in the camera shot whenever
possible. The player is the focus, not
the referee. So if I’m called in to make
a determination and the camera is rolling, I want to take only as much time as
is necessary to make the proper call and get back out of the show.
Long Drive:
The
final lesson is that 11 hours is a long drive when you’re fighting a cold…
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| Because, well... Just because |
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