Misses US Open by 1 Due to 3 Shot Penalty
One tour pro is not visiting the local coin laundry to clean his duds for the US Open. 'Cause he's not going.
John Catlin and his entire group were penalized 3 shots for their pace-of-play, or lack thereof. Catlin missed a playoff by one shot.
He points the finger at extraneous circumstances:
- a playing partner shot 85 (oof)
- the group waited 15 minutes for a ruling
The Washington State Rules Officials have received flak for their drastic decision but their response is ultimately..."Shut it, you weren't there."
- the 15-minute ruling was early in the round
- they never caught up
- the group missed all 4 pace-of-play checkpoints
Whoa, for a second there we thought they said 4 check stops. If that was the case we would've been asked to leave the property immediately.
Where's the Rules Rover?
Catlin did have the option of calling in a "Rules Rover" to monitor a “non-responsive fellow competitor”...but he didn't. He might not have known he had the option. Or maybe it was a case of; if you can't pick out the slow player in your group in the first 4 holes...
There is a funny ending but not for Catlin.
The goof that shot 47 on the front followed by a 38 on the back "decided" not to add the penalities to his scorecard and was ultimately DQ'ed.
Apparently scoring properly isn't a suggestion, is a requirement. Good to know.
