Bring Back the Stymie, Vol. 5,810

Readers of The Future of Golf know that I have a strange predilection for the stymie, inspired in large part by Bobby Jones' passionate Golf is My Game plea to bring it back.

I believe it would make for must-see viewing at the WGC Match Play (which induced a deep 30-minute nap for me today).

Today's quote of the day from Max Behr was part of a June 1917 Golf Illustrated editorial decrying the Western Golf Association's abolition of the stymie.  Here is a bit more Behr, courtesy of the USGA's new online database search engine.

But if the stymie is to go there is no reason why we should rob the game one iota of the stress it lays upon the character of the golfer. Golf is not only a contest of skill, but a contest of morale as well. The great match players know this and take every opportunity of delivering a blow to the courage of their opponents. Openings of this nature are liable to occur anywhere in a match but the great majority come with the final putt at every hole.  

Of course the stymie debate went on for another oh, 45 years until it was completely gone from the game.

Why not bring it back for just one week? Shoot, Stephen Ames might have only lost 8&7 if he could have stymied one of Tiger's birdie putts. But I bet that would have been the highlight of the match.