How the Fan-Reported Penalty Era Ended
When Lexi Thompson's 4-stroke penalty cost her a major, golf finally said "Enough!"
The PGA Tour is the biggest tour in professional golf. Its marquee events are covered with dozens of camera men and course-side commentators and watched by millions of golf fans throughout the world. While this is also standard for other major sporting events, golf owned a unique quirk until 2018: it allowed anyone to alert match officials of potential penalties.
That meant that viewers at home could directly influence a tournament by spotting and reporting an infraction, a practice that ultimately influenced some big tournaments, causing golf's governing bodies to do away with this rule.
Reporting an Infraction
Back in the day, fans could simply alter tournament officials when they thought they spotted a violation on TV. The crazy part is, viewers at home would actually get through to tournament organizers and influence the tournament.
The PGA tour suggested fans contact them through a link on the PGA Tour website, or even, as crazy as this sounds, through the social media application formerly known as Twitter.
Fairness
The issue of fairness comes up when discussing fans calling in rules violations, and ultimately influenced golf rule-makers and major tours to do away with this practice.
Some people who felt fans should not be able to call in infractions point out that the more famous players enjoy the majority of television coverage and should not have to deal with extra scrutiny that other players do not face.
Those who defend the practice believe that the integrity of the game demands that all rules be followed at all times. They view it as the duty of all golfers and golf fans to enforce all the rules of golf.
Famous Fan Call-Ins
Tiger Woods was docked two strokes at the 2013 Masters when he took a drop near, but not exactly on the spot, where he was supposed to.
Perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back, however, occured during the 2017 ANA Inspiration, one of the LPGA Tour's major championships. Lexi Thompson was given a four-stroke penalty when she replaced her ball about a quarter-inch from its original spot before tapping in a short putt.
Thompson, who was leading the tournament by two strokes at the time, was penalized two strokes for the incfraction the next day, then penalized another two strokes for signing an incorrect scorecard. She was informed of the four-stroke penalty mid-way through the back-nine on the tournament's final day. Without the penalty, Thompson would have won the tournament. Instead, she clawed her way back to force a playoff, which she ultimately lost.
If that sounds crazy to you, you're not alone. Just months after this incidednt, the USGA, R&A and the major golf tours announced that they would no longer allow fans to report rules infractions, instead assigning at least one rules official to monitor the TV broadcast to look out for penalties.