When did Will know what Will knew?

[Dave_Miller]

To the Treehouse:

With all the debate surrounding the Els ruling on 11 during the Sat. round at the Masters perhaps the question that should have been asked was-

When did Will Nicholson know about the circumstances surrounding Els ball.  It was several minutes before Will Nicholson arrived on the scene and he did not hesitate in declaring those branches piled for removal.  Where was Will when he was called for the ruling.
Was he in the Clubhouse or one of the Cabins watching on TV?
Did he have time in his own mind to decide that these branches were piled for removal while going out to 11.  

What does everyone think?  Did not seem like it was given much thought once he arrived on the scene.

Fairways and Greens (then you'll never need a ruling)

Dave

[Mike_Sweeney]

I don't know where he was or the situation off camera. However, on camera he seemed to be very casual and very knowledgeable about that pile of debris and the ruling. I am working part of the NCAA tournament at Yale, and certainly I would know some things about the course that the competitors or officials from the NCAA would not know.

I don't think that Cink or Els did anything wrong as they both checked with rules officials before they did anything (I did not see Els ball move). The problem seems to be on the universal consistent application of the rules by the officials or at least the perception of this consistency.

[TEPaul]

It doesn't matter now. After the close of competition on Sunday the whole question was moot and actually the Rules of Golf themselves make it that way for obvious reasons.

Apparently Will Nickolson was the Official in Charge of Master's Tournament Committee and as such he had the final call on any dispute in that tournament. In a sense he's in the position Bob Jones once was as the one who ran the Masters Tournament Committee.

Jones could've made a different call in that De Vincenzo controversy and all the USGA officials on site knew that. That situation was a judgement call within the context of the Rules as those USGA officials at the Masters knew and interpreted them with Jones making the final decision. Jones asked them to search the rules and if they could just find him the slightest interpretive loophole within the rules he use it to not penalize De Vincenzo. So they took about an hour and searched everything and came back to Jones and told him they couldn't find a single legitimate loophole and so Jones said;

"Well, OK then, I've got to penalize him."

H.W. Wind wrote about that incident involving the Masters, De Vincenzo, Jones and the USGA officials on site as a great example of things done and resolved correctly--in the spirit of the game and the way the rules work and are supposed to work. As we know our own sometimes contributor, Kye Goalby's dad ended up winning that Masters!

[ChipOat]

I've seen 1 opinion that Nicholson booted it based on the following supposition:

"They don't make mistakes at Augusta.  If those branches were intended to be removed, they would have been removed.  If they weren't removed, they absolutely were left there on purpose."

Sounds a little severe to me.  Nobody's perfect and, if the #3 guy at ANGC (and the #1 rules guy at the tournament) says he intended them to be removed, how do you legitimately argue the other side?

[rgkeller]

>>Nobody's perfect and, if the #3 guy at ANGC (and the #1 rules guy at the tournament) says he intended them to be removed, how do you legitimately argue the other side?<<

Because of the vines and other underbrush growing OVER the limbs on the ground?

[JohnV]

Anybody think there may be an assistant groundskeeper looking for work this week?

[TEPaul]

"(and the #1 rules guy at the tournament) says he intended them to be removed, how do you legitimately argue the other side?"

Chip:

How do you argue the other side? It's simple---you act like Matt Ward and just assume you know more about what goes on at ANGC in setting up the Masters tournament and how to  run it and apply the Rules of Golf in it than the OIC, Will Nicklolson does!  

What was Matt Ward's rationale for assuming Nickolson was wrong and he knew better? Last I looked he said he and his buddies on some course somewhere (remember Matt does not believe in belonging to a club so he can maintain the objectivity of his architectural analysis) would never allow each other to use Rule 25 like that ruling at the Masters so there's no reason on earth, in his opinion, that Will Nickolson should've allowed Els to use it.