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The couch-potato police were out in full force Sunday, sprinting to their telephones to call the MCI Heritage and point out the supposed rules violation they had just witnessed. Amazingly, the PGA Tour takes these calls.
Why it does so remains a mystery. There have been numerous instances over the years of viewers calling in and actually affecting the outcome, with penalty strokes or disqualification. The tour says it has a duty to investigate any such rules questions.
Never mind that television only captures a small percentage of play throughout a round. Never mind that golfers routinely call penalties on themselves and are expected to do so. Never mind that it is the duty of playing partners and walking officials to protect the field from any rule-breaking, not somebody watching from home.
In this case, the situation is even worse.
When Stewart Cink removed loose impediments from behind his ball in the waste area on Sunday, he did so only after consulting with PGA Tour rules official Slugger White, who watched him do it!
First, a waste area is different from a bunker. It is treated as if a player were in the rough. He is allowed to ground his club and remove lose debris, as White acknowledged. He is not allowed to improve his lie, which viewers thought Cink did. Again, White was right there, watching. Shouldn't he be the one to call a penalty if one occurred?
After Cink hit his approach to birdie range to win the sudden-death playoff over Ted Purdy, the victory celebration was put on hold as PGA Tour officials fielded phone calls and decided to review the tape. A nervous 30 minutes passed for Cink, who knew what he did was correct. Finally, the tour ruled that no infraction had occurred and that the victory stood.
Can you imagine if it had been reversed? Especially after Cink sought advice from the official who watched his every move?
"The first thing (I did) after I hit my shot was to go to Slugger White and ask him what I could do," Cink said. "I asked him, "Am I allowed to move this?' He told me exactly what I could move, and that's what I did."
White watched the replay at least 10 times and saw nothing to indicate a violation.
"We get a lot of calls, and I would say that 99 percent of them are witch hunts," White said.
The tour should do itself a favor and not even answer the phone.
MICKELSON'S SCHEDULE: After two weeks off to bask in his Masters victory, Phil Mickelson is scheduled to return to the PGA Tour at next week's HP Classic of New Orleans. He is then scheduled to play the Wachovia Championship, the Byron Nelson Championship and the Colonial. Mickelson likely will then take two weeks off and return to play the Buick Classic before the U.S. Open.
CAPTAIN BERNHARD: The U.S. and European teams for this September's Ryder Cup are starting to take shape, but one player who might be performing better than those who will play says he definitely will not. European captain Bernhard Langer, 46, of Germany, has made the cut in all 10 of his starts this year and has three top-10s, including a tie for fifth at the Ford Championship and a tie for fourth at the Masters. Meanwhile, U.S. captain Hal Sutton has made just two cuts in eight events, his best finish a tie for 44th at the Nissan Open.
AROUND GOLF: Peter Jacobsen, who won last year's Greater Hartford Open and is splitting his time between the regular tour and Champions Tour, had hip surgery Tuesday to repair a torn labrum and bone spurs. He hopes to return in mid-June. ... In 48 major championship rounds from 2000 through 2002, Tiger Woods was a combined 92 under par. In the past five majors, Woods is 20 over par and has finished each of those 72-hole events over par. ... The Champions Tour has had eight different winners in eight events this year, the latest Tom Jenkins at the Blue Angels Classic near Pensacola. ... The World Golf Hall of Fame will announce its 2004 class today.
- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.