WTF? Byron Nelson wimps out........

[Bill_McBride]

Our club tournament was rained out this morning    so I went shopping with my wife after a while.   

Came home and turned on the Byron Nelson just in time for a WTF moment.....

Dustin Johnson pulls his tee shot into the lateral hazard left, has no shot left if he takes drop on his side so decides to drop on the opposite side in accordance with the lateral hazard rule.  So far so good.

The PGA Tour official puts him in a cart to drive him around the lake and then measures the distance for him.  D. Johnson hits it close and makes a par to stay in the lead.

I am very glad Melvyn Morrow wasn't watching this.   

[mike_beene]

First,if they would mark this as a water hazard and take this option away it would save time. I am puzzled about the range finder.I guess I was under the impression an official could not give a yardage.Certainly ok to ask a fellow competitor his yardage,but dont you have to figure out your own? There. goes my theory that solid geometry skills were the one thing I could offer Tiger that Stevie couldn't. I was also surprised that Allenby could hit his ball down a gutter and drop with no penalty when impossible to get or find ball.

[Pete_Pittock]

My take on the situation was the rules official used the range finder to determine the equidistant point on the opposite side of the hazard, but did not divulge the yardage to the player or caddy.

Mike, since the hazard was not designed to be crossed during the regular play of the hole, marking as a lateral hazard is appropriate, but that does not eliminate the ability to declare it a water hazard. Also, the drain is an immovable obstruction, and at that point not within a hazard line. If there is certainty that a ball enters an immovable obstruction is does not have to be found. Relief is at the entry point.

[Matt_Cohn]

The rangefinder thing is a case of the golfer being clever; nothing more. He figured out his exact distance from one side of the hazard. On the other side of the hazard, he asked the rules official where he could drop. Obviously the first spot the rules official approved had to be precisely that same distance. It's using the rules to your advantage; nothing different than being in the rough, dropping from a cartpath, and ending up in the fairway. Clever, lucky, nothing more.

[Bill_McBride]

My take on the situation was the rules official used the range finder to determine the equidistant point on the opposite side of the hazard, but did not divulge the yardage to the player or caddy.

Mike, since the hazard was not designed to be crossed during the regular play of the hole, marking as a lateral hazard is appropriate, but that does not eliminate the ability to declare it a water hazard. Also, the drain is an immovable obstruction, and at that point not within a hazard line. If there is certainty that a ball enters an immovable obstruction is does not have to be found. Relief is at the entry point.

I was out of the room while the rules official used a rangefinder to get the distance, but I heard the TV commentators say the rules official would give Johnson the distance.  They talked as though the time saved by use of the cart and rangefinder were worth it to save time.  

[Bill_McBride]

First,if they would mark this as a water hazard and take this option away it would save time. I am puzzled about the range finder.I guess I was under the impression an official could not give a yardage.Certainly ok to ask a fellow competitor his yardage,but dont you have to figure out your own? There. goes my theory that solid geometry skills were the one thing I could offer Tiger that Stevie couldn't. I was also surprised that Allenby could hit his ball down a gutter and drop with no penalty when impossible to get or find ball.

Mike, a parallel lake, canal, ocean, etc are labeled "lateral" because it's not possible to go back from the point the ball crossed the hazard line.

[Pete_Pittock]

Bill,
I thought you were old enough not to believe everything you are told by TV announcers.
75-80, no rain the next week here.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill,
I thought you were old enough not to believe everything you are told by TV announcers.
75-80, no rain the next week here.

There is nothing nicer than the weather all summer in Portland.

As compared to the rest of the year in Portland!

[mike_beene]

I can certainly understand that one option is gone since you cant go back,but in this setting you still have the ability to drop within two clun lengths not nearer the hole. I know there are some hazards where the anle makes that impossible and then lateral makes sense to avoid stroke and distance being only other alternative.This creek-lake is wide enough that there is no bridge at that point and the marking as a lateral disrupted play.Putting a player and caddy on a cart to drive around is a disruption,as would the delay of walking around be.Wide hazards seem to violate the spirit of the lateral hazard rule.They are cousins to the drop circle,and were both invented at a family reunion in the deep south.

[Bill_McBride]

I can certainly understand that one option is gone since you cant go back,but in this setting you still have the ability to drop within two clun lengths not nearer the hole. I know there are some hazards where the anle makes that impossible and then lateral makes sense to avoid stroke and distance being only other alternative.This creek-lake is wide enough that there is no bridge at that point and the marking as a lateral disrupted play.Putting a player and caddy on a cart to drive around is a disruption,as would the delay of walking around be.Wide hazards seem to violate the spirit of the lateral hazard rule.They are cousins to the drop circle,and were both invented at a family reunion in the deep south.

If Dustin Johnson had dropped 2 club lengths from the lateral hazard line, he'd have had no play for the par he got from the opposite side, hence the decision to go around.  On foot, that's time consuming, and I presume that's why the PGA Tour provided him with transport.

[Kevin_Reilly]

I am very glad Melvyn Morrow wasn't watching this.   

If he was instead watching the BMW tournament at Wentworth, he would have seen David Horsey's caddie line him up on all his full shots.  That's infinitely worse.