USGA: How can there be two choices for this situation?

The USGA and Phil Mickelson found themselves in the middle of a controversy on Saturday at the U.S. Open. While many will blame the player, it was the organizing body that brought this on themselves.

Phil Mickelson, who started his third round with no chance of winning the tournament, walked willingly into a rules brouhaha on Saturday afternoon. On the 13^th green, Mickelson hit his ball while it was moving. The USGA gave him a two-shot penalty, using Rule 14-5. That’s the short version. Of course, there are convolutions.

Mickelson had taken four strokes to get to the green before the penalty happened. On his fifth stroke, he missed the putt. The ball rolled beyond the hole, but rather than allow the putt to continue to roll back down the hill, Mickelson hit the ball back up toward the hole. He didn’t stop the ball. He purposely hit it. From there, he took two more putts. Then he was assessed a two-shot penalty for hitting a moving ball. It was a 10 for that hole.

“I don’t mean disrespect to anybody,” Mickelson said to Fox after he concluded his round. “I know it’s a two-shot penalty.

"“At that time, I just didn’t feel like going back and forth and hitting the same shot over. I took the two-shot penalty and moved on. It’s my understanding of the rules. I’ve had multiple times where I’ve wanted to do that. I just finally did.”"

Officials, while perhaps not liking it, agreed with him and assessed the two stokes.

USGA Rules official John Bodenhamer Senior Managing Director of Championships and Governance said in a statement released to the media:

"“I have not watched his entire play of the hole, but I understand he made four strokes to get to the putting green,” Bodenhamer said. “And then what I did see was he made a first putt, and it went past the hole. And as it was trickling, he made another stroke up close to the hole as it was moving, and then he missed another putt and then holed to take four putts on that putting green.”"

That would have given him an eight, without the penalty.

How the USGA created this situation, and how they can fix it going forward

Rule 14-5

The description is : “ A player must not make a stroke at his ball while it is moving.….. Penalty for Breach of Rule 14-5 or 14-6: Match play – Loss of hole; Stroke play – Two strokes.”

Some think perhaps the wrong rule was applied. Some feel Rule 1-2 should have come into play.

Rule 1-2 says that a player can’t take action with “intent to influence the movement of a ball in play or alter physical conditions with the intent of affecting the playing of a hole.”

Just as hitting a moving ball the penalty is “Match play – Loss of hole; Stroke play – Two strokes.

However, there is a caveat which says that “In the case of a serious breach of Rule 1-2, the Committee may impose a penalty of disqualification.”

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Some feel Mickelson should have DQed himself under Rule 1-2, or that the USGA should have DQed him, using that same mark.

Serious breach, in this instance, means the player took the action to benefit himself. So, was that the reason Mickelson did it? Was here intent to benefit himself or to just relieve himself of the frustration? It may have been to his benefit in that he did not have to play additional strokes trying to finish that hole. We don’t know what score he would have made had he allowed the ball to roll down the hill.

However, the USGA was following their own earlier decisions, including one they handed down to John Daly in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2 in the U.S. Open where they used rule 14-5.

Daly was playing the 11^th hole at the time. Pinehurst No. 2’s greens are crowned, much like those at Shinnecock. He hit a putt that was moving. Daly said he did it on purpose in protest of the pin placements that day.

What is certain here is that the USGA should look at those two rules and see where the overlap can be eliminated. Some say there’s not overlap, but it one group thinks he should have been DQed and another group thinks he got the right penalty, then there’s overlap.

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The USGA needs to start making rules that can be enforced in a yes or no manner, without bringing intent into it. Either someone took an action that requires a penalty or someone didn’t. They need to do better than that.

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