Dear Linda,
I told your answer to Ask Linda #525 to a number of people -
we all have come up with the same question: If there is a 2-stroke
penalty to the person who is putting, as in the #525 scenario, and the
competitor is only liable for an apology, what prevents a competitor tending
the flagstick from putting the stick back into the cup just before the ball
holes out (as happened in #525), purposefully, to force the 2-stroke penalty
upon their opponent, so that they themselves win a hole or a match??
Thanks for your advice!!
Best regards,
Lulu
Dear Lulu,
Remember "The Spirit of the Game" in the front of
the rulebook, where it talks about things like integrity and sportsmanship? Any
player who deliberately replaces the flagstick to cause a fellow competitor or
an opponent to incur a two-stroke penalty would be violating the spirit of the
game and would be disqualified. To me, this is such an unspeakable act that the
Committee should consider barring such an individual from all future competitions.
Linda
Copyright © 2012 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
