Lol. A thousand to one. At least.

For the record Rory was asked about it and said he knows Lexi well and is sure it was an honest mistake. Doubt that changes your own personal 1000-1 odds, though.

Not sure why you are so wedded to the idea that she MUST have been intentionally cheating - on a tap-in, where she marked from the side (careless), and didn't even move the ball any closer to the hole.

You just come off like someone with a cynical view of human nature. People get careless. They make mistakes. It happens.

If he was a judge he would probably try to sentence young boys to the gas chamber.

Of course Rory is going to defend his friend when there's potential for any doubt.

If you don't understand that moving half an inch closer is pretty much irrelevant but avoiding an irregularity in the green like a small depression or spike mark is huge, you need to go play a few rounds of golf before having this discussion

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

where was the spike mark or depression? Also, the ball was moved slightly to the side not closer.

glad you agree the "she gained nothing because she didn't move it any closer" argument is ridiculous

Phil sure has lot of nerve setting himself up as some sort of bastion of honesty and LOL at using his quote to strengthen your argument. When they ask Phil whether he has actually moved his ball in a similar manner he'll probably plead the 5th.

she gained nothing by moving the ball period

I agree that he's not necessarily one to talk, but the stuff he took a lot of **** for lately (getting a ruling from a rules official before taking relief from sprinklerheads that "interfered" with his play) involves exploiting ambiguity and subjectivity in the rules, and is in a totally different category from objectively breaking the rules by moving your ball a significant amount on the green.

It's a lot easier to argue that you should take the most beneficial ruling you can get when you're asking an official to make the ruling before continuing with play than it is to say that you should be excused for moving your ball nearly an inch on the green when it's objectively definitely against the rules.

is there another explanation for how she does her ball marking other than getting some tiny advantage? why would you mark it like that?

one situation that would have been very interesting if it had happened is if zach johnson had actually had done his ball mark wrong at the the deere. remember that he moved his ball sideways out of someone's line and almost forgot to put it back.

at some time/level, i think golf associations have to be way more lenient on tiny, unintentional actions that don't affect your ability to score well on that hole. like ZJ wasn't getting any advantage not moving the ball over a few inches. it would have more that he forgot.

The problem with being lenient on mistakes like that is that as soon as you go in that direction, every time someone has a spike mark or bump in their line they're going to forget to move it back.

It's really not that hard to play by the rules, and if you occasionally make a mistake and take a penalty for it that's okay. Mistakes are penalized in other sports too.

I can't think of one. What the casual fan doesn't understand is that when you've marked and replaced a ball tens of thousands of times knowing that it has to return in the same spot or you'll take a penalty, it becomes routine and you literally never screw it up to that degree.

The entire thing started by the odd way she marked the ball, I have never seen anyone take a putting stance then mark the ball by leaning over still in the putting stance like that.

Yeah, it's not common, but when you step up for the tap in and realize there's something obstructing your ball you gotta do what you gotta do.

When does the next tournament start so we can move on from this **** show?

I think there's a big tournament on the men's side starting tomorrow

Felt bad for Lexi Thompson until I saw the video. Not sure why she did it but she replaced it a significant distance from her marker - enough that there is no doubt it was a penalty. She cant plead ignorance. She has probably been marking golf balls in tournaments since she was 7 years-old.

It sucks how it came to light (viewer), but may be a good message to her and others to replace your ball correctly. It is a shame that the focus has been on the "viewer calling it in rather than the infraction itself. The whole viewer thing gives Lexi some public support that she really doesn't deserve in this situation.


If this was one of those old "wind moved the ball situations" I would feel different. But there was no outside interference. It was all on her. She needs to own it.

With the LPGA taking a one week break before resuming its schedule in Hawaii, I thought it would be a good time to do my fourth LPGA player profile.

The player I have chosen this time around is the very popular:


HEE YOUNG PARK


http://www.tonyslpgareport.com/2017/...oung-park.html

very well said.. i hate the whole viewer calling in and them doing something much later..... but i do think lexi is doing a "soft or lazy cheat"

On the bright side if the USGA passes the tapping down spike mark rule then no one will have a reason to replace their ball on a slightly different angle.

If cheating is as common as Mickelson's comment's suggest, that's a pretty damn good argument for allowing tapping down spike marks. Any rule that unnecessarily puts people with integrity at a significant disadvantage is a bad one.

The LPGA moves to Hawaii this week for the playing of the Lotte Championship Presented by Hershey.

This will be tournament #8 of 34 on this year's LPGA schedule.

Here are the key details:


http://www.tonyslpgareport.com/2017/...y-hershey.html

Exactly. Reminds me of the old adage that a lock is just to keep honest people honest. I have a feeling that Patrick Reed has been "pinching an inch" his whole golfing career regarding putts. Totally unfounded, but it just seems like it would be in his repertoire regarding his past history.

What did Patrick Reed do to get dragged in to this pointless argument?

college drama rumors

On a more relevant note, this weeks events kicked off yesterday. You have to love primetime golf