I will not prolong the exchange with a detailed argument about the decision not to DQ Tiger. I think though that your own analysis makes most of my main point. Critics of the decision were arguing today that the rules of golf require anyone who submits an inaccurate scorecard to be DQ'd, and that the only reason that did not happen here was the superstar status of Tiger. What Rule 33-7 (including 4.5) clearly establishes though it that DQ is *not* the automatic result of submitting an inaccurate scorecard. For the last two years, the tournament rules committee has to make a judgement call as to whether to DQ such a player. Joe (and every other golf fan) is free of course to disagree with such a judgement call - all that does is welcome golf fans to the world of sports, where fans have always argued about the judgement calls of officials. It is one thing to argue that the officials gave a celeb player the benefit of the doubt, it is quite another to argue that the rules state that the officials are not supposed to be exercising any judgement at all. I think the officials made the correct call, Joe and many others think they did not. My main point here is that the new rule now gives the officials the obligation to exercise that judgement. It may also be worth noting that the PGA, the USGA and the R&A all agreed with the judgement made by the Masters' officials.
I come at this from the other end than Joe; I have always detested the Masters - it represents everything that I hate about golf. Not just its elitist, racist and sexist traditions - while I don't think time and culture excuse everything, I don't judge organizations in the present by what they were in the past. But Augusta has proudly held on to its elitist, racist and sexist traditions far longer, and with more arrogant gusto, than has ever been seemly. They also have perpetuated the myth more than most that Golf's shit don't stink - that professional golfers are somehow better humans, more honest, more like gentleman, than the lower class of human that plays other sports. This is a leftover from the casual Edwardian elitism of 100 years ago, which left golf elevating amateur athletes over professionals long after everyone this side of Avery Brundage had evolved past that particular prejudice. Even today the Masters prides itself on recognizing the "purity" of amateur athletics more than any other tournament. All of that to say that if I were looking for a reason to boycott the Masters I think I could come up with a dozen that are more important and less ambiguous than the decision to apply Rule 33-7 to Tiger Woods on Friday. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
