デイビッド・プライス氏側の説明

別な記事の予定でしたが、予定変更いたします。(^^；

ダスティン・ジョンソンのペナルティー問題に関しまして、その時のローミング・オフィシャルだったデイビッド・プライス氏側のコメント（＆説明）が載った記事をみつけました。↓

「PGA official on gaffe: Johnson just had 'to ask'」

プライス氏は、ダラスの方なので、記事はESPNダラスのものです。


（ちなみに全くの余談ですが、デイビッド・プライスという名前は、メジャーリーグのタンパベイ・レイズに同姓同名の左腕ピッチャーが居ます。 2007年のドラフトで、全米いの一番に指名されたピッチャーで、今や球界のトップエリートの一人です。）


この記事の後ろの方に、


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実は14番でもDジョンソンとキャディはプライス氏に質問しています。
「ここで素振りしてもよろしいか？」と。 そこはフェアウエイから大きく外れていたがバンカー外だったので、プライス氏は練習スイングをしても良いと答えた。

そしてさらに16番でも、Dジョンソンのキャディがプライス氏に、ボールのすぐ近くにある小石を取り除いても良いか？と尋ねました。
プライス氏は、「そこはバンカー内なので、ルールによりボールを動かさない限りルースインペディメントは取り除いても良い。」と答えた。 と書かれています。


18番の2打目を打つときに、なにかして欲しいことはないか？と尋ねるとDジョンソンは、観客にもう少し右の方を開けるように言って欲しい。ということだったので、そうしたが、

バンカーかどうかについては尋ねられなかった。


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つまり、Dジョンソンは、単純に18番でもプライス氏に質問すれば良かったのだ。

という結論づけです。


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まぁ、Dジョンソン側に落ち度があったという結論には賛同しますが、16番ホールでのプライス氏の発言が本当であれば、Dジョンソンはさらにペナルティを喰らっていないといけないお話になりますね。
バンカー内はルース・インペディメントを取り除けませんから。

例え競技委員が間違って答えたとしても、ルール違反はプレイヤーの責任になります。


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今回の件で私が一番納得行かないのは、記事中のその後に書いてあるところです。


Dジョンソンに、ルール違反のことを告げに行くのは簡単なことではなかった。
もし最後のパットが決まって居たら、私はPGAチャンピオンに対して「貴方は実はチャンピオンではない。」と告げなければならなかったのだ。
最後のパットが外れたからと言って、事態がそれほど良くなるわけではないが、難しいことだった。

しかし、Dジョンソンがもしそのまま（ボギーとして）カードにサインしてしまったら競技失格となり、ライダーカップのポイントにも影響し、賞金も０、もっと大きなインパクトを受けてしまう。

プライス氏は、スコア提出所を去るDジョンソンを大変に気の毒に思った。



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なんでそんなに偉そうなのか？

打つ前に、ここはバンカーだよ、と既知の事実を告げてもルール違反ではありません。

あるいは、プレイヤーが質問しない限り答えないのであれば、最後までそうするべきではないのか？ （例え結果がディスクォリファイだったとしても。）

また、質問されていないのに、現に「なにかして欲しいことはないか？」と話しかけているではないか？


「観客のみなさん、ご協力をお願いします。お下がりください。あなた方の立っているエリアはバンカーですから。」という風に言うことも出来るわけです。


また、競技委員長からの事後の説明で、『ローミング・オフィシャルがあれだけ観客が取り囲んでいる状況でプレイヤーに声を掛けるために近づくのは困難である。』という「言い訳」がなされたのも、ただの取り繕い感が否めません。



極論すれば、競技委員の言い方一つ、胸先三寸で結果が違ってしまう。 ゴルフの実力ではなく。

・・・と、いうところが一番もやもや致します。

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追記：

どうやら、2015年にはまたこのウィッスリング・ストレイツにPGAチャンピオンシップが戻ってくることが既に決まっているそうですね。

それまでに、この事態を何とかしろ！って意見も多く聞かれる中、

コース・オーナーのハーブ・コーラー（Herb Kohler）氏は変えるつもり全く無し。
PGA of Americaの理事長、ジム・レミー（Jim Remy）氏も、900個のバンカーをウエイスト・エリアに指定して、300個のバンカーをバンカーに指定して印付けろっての？無理！とか言って、後押ししている状態です。


やり様がないのなら仕方ないとも思いますが、あんなにフェアウエーから外れたところのレーキもない小さなバンカーは潰して草ボウボウにすればいいだけなんですよね。
ダスティン・ジョンソンは、ルールで割食ったかも知れませんけど、その以前にあんな酷いティーショットから、4番アイアンで打てるライを貰えていたわけで。


結局5年後までにどうするのか、楽しみですね。






元の英文全文を保存。↓

David Price had a sinking feeling as he watched Dustin Johnson stroke his final putt in Sunday's final round of the PGA Championship.
Price, the head golf professional at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas and the rules official walking with the final group on Sunday at Whistling Straits, told ESPNDallas.com via cell phone on Monday that he had just received a call over his radio from another rules official watching the broadcast on television.
"He said, 'Do not let Dustin sign his scorecard yet. We may have a problem. I think he grounded his club in the bunker not once, but twice,'" Price said.
Price, who was watching as Johnson was preparing to hit his third shot, didn't want to say anything until the hole was over.

Curtis Strange says the PGA went out of its way to make sure everyone knew the rules and Dustin Johnson broke a bunker rule. And Tiger's weekend was uneventful as he couldn't get in a groove.

"I'm going to let him play out the hole so that it doesn't change the way he plays a shot or anything like that in case there wasn't a violation," said Price, who was walking with the final group for the sixth straight time at the PGA Championship. "As he's putting I'm thinking, 'I could be going up to the PGA champion to tell him he's not really the champion.' He missed the putt, which didn't make it any better, but I immediately went up to talk to him."

Price asked Nick Watney, Johnson's playing partner, to stay to listen to the conversation since Watney had to sign Johnson's scorecard.
"I simply asked Dustin: 'There has been a report that you possibly grounded your club in the bunker on your second shot. I need to ask you if you know if you did or not,'" Price said. "He paused and said, 'I don't remember, but I don't think I did.' I told him that was fine, but we had to go in and look at the video."
Price said he heard Johnson say he didn't even realize he was in a bunker as they walked off the green.
Price and the other rules officials offered to take Johnson to the CBS trailer where they have high-resolution cameras, but once Johnson saw the replay in the scoring area, he knew he had grounded his club and said so. That meant a 2-stroke penalty was assessed and Johnson was out of the three-hole aggregate playoff.

Martin Kaymer ended up beating Bubba Watson in that playoff for his first major victory.
"It was very difficult to have to tell him and for that to happen ... very difficult," Price said. "It's one of those things. It's a cut-and-dried rule. There's no question it was a bunker. There are 1,200 of them out there, and we put that clearly on the rules sheet. It's not a questionable call at first base or whether a guy's foot was in bounds on a pass. It wasn't a judgment call. The timing was just bad."

Price has had to give bad news to players before. He's been an official at the PGA Championship more than 20 times and has been a rules official for 11 Masters, five Ryder Cups, a couple of British Opens and this year's U.S. Open. He's headed to the Ryder Cup next month to help out with rules issues.
Price said he went up to Johnson as he was preparing to hit his second shot and asked him if he needed anything. Johnson replied that he needed the crowd moved to the right, so Price went to make sure that was being done and then waited on the fairway. He never saw Johnson ground his club.

Ground In Confusion

Dustin Johnson lost a chance to win the PGA Championship on Sunday when he grounded his club in what turned out to be a bunker. (Rule 13-4 in the USGA rulebook states that a player may not touch the ground in a hazard with his club.) Here is an excerpt from the "Supplementary Rules of Play" that was posted in the locker room at Whistling Straits.

1. Bunkers: All areas of the course that were designed and built as sand bunkers will be played as bunkers (hazards), whether or not they have been raked. This will mean that many bunkers positioned outside of the ropes, as well as some areas of bunkers inside the ropes, close to the rope line, will likely include numerous footprints, heel prints and tire tracks during the play of the Championship. Such irregularities of surface are a part of the game and no free relief will be available from these conditions.
 
Note 1: The sand area in front, left and behind No. 5 green in the later water hazard is NOT a bunker (do not move stones).

Note 2: Where necessary, blue dots define the margin of a bunker.

But Price had dealt with two other questions from Johnson or his caddie about bunkers the previous few holes. On No. 14, Johnson hit into an area just past a bunker and asked if he could take some practice swings for that shot in the bunker. Since the ball wasn't in the bunker, Price told him he could. Then, on No. 16, Johnson's caddie asked if he could remove some stones near the ball. Price told him they were in a bunker and by rule they can move loose impediments as long as the golf ball doesn't move. But there was no doubt to Price that Johnson was in a bunker.

"All he had to do was ask," Price said. "He'd asked me before that. He'd been in a bunch of bunkers. You don't remind a player on every hole that you can't ground your club."
Price said the bunker on No. 18 that Johnson was in was formed like many other bunkers on the course.
"It was a rather small one, but it was an area that had been dug out and filled with sand," Price said. "The only thing that made it different than previous bunkers is that he hit the ball so far off line, it was in a bunker that had been trampled down instead of one that was finely raked. We told players on the information we gave them that all sand on the course was considered a hazard, even if there were footprints or tire marks."
Price pointed out that it was important to tell Johnson right after the 18th hole and get things figured out before he signed his scorecard and started a possible playoff.

"If he signs that card, he's disqualified and maybe that impacts whether he clinches a spot on the Ryder Cup or something like that," Price said. "So we had to take care of it then."
Price said he patted Johnson on the back and said he was sorry as Johnson left the scoring area.
"Dustin handled the whole thing with complete composure, complete grace and in a very classy manner," Price said. "I told him he may be getting a penalty and there was never a harsh word, never in animosity to me or anyone else. He handled it with complete dignity and I thought that was a real testament to the type of kid he is. You can tell he's well-liked on Tour. They were compassionate with him. A lot of people were heartbroken by this."

Richard Durrett covers golf for ESPNDallas.com. You can follow him on Twitter or leave a question for his weekly mailbag.