2010 PGA Championship Final Round Clippings

Isn't it ironic that the very thing making Whistling Straits look so good on television--the excessive littering of sandy pits--may turn out to be the thing that forever taints the place?

But hey, at least the debacle of an ending made everyone forget about the ridiculous 18th green and the inconceivably poor hole location choice on Sunday! So it wasn't all bad for the PGA.

Ledes

Doug Ferguson for AP:

Martin Kaymer won his first major Sunday in a PGA Championship that will be remembered as much for the guy who tied for fifth.

Mick Elliott for Fanhouse:

Martin Kaymer defeated Bubba Watson in a three-hole aggregate playoff Sunday to win the PGA Championship, golf's final major of the year.

Now, on to the day's big story.

Larry Dorman in the NY Times:

One contender fell victim to a rules technicality, another was done in by a poor decision. When all the controversy had settled and the chaos emptied into dusk Sunday, Martin Kaymer kept his wits about him, played the percentages and won the P.G.A. Championship at Whistling Straits.

Gary D'Amato in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Who says no Tiger, no Phil, no drama in a major?

The 92nd PGA Championship, for three days a forgettable affair marked by fog delays, soggy turf and suspended rounds, crackled to life under sunny skies Sunday and built to an only-in-Hollywood climax that was part "Tin Cup" and part "Caddyshack."


Dustin Johnson

With all due respect Martin Kaymer--and this has nothing to do with you bogeying the last three holes at St. Andrews to cost me about $50 at Ladbrokes--the big story is Dustin Johnson on 18.

John Vander Borght explains the dynamics of walking rules official David Price possibly intervening and how that plays within the rules. (As I noted in earlier posts, he appears to have been busy doing crowd control.)

Johnson may have also inadvertently violated another rule on 18 as Vander Borght noted and reader Nick emailed to wonder about. You can see it on the video posted here. This one's open to interpretation and certainly doesn't matter at this point, but it does speak to the chaos that was the scene on 18.

Oh, and a reader noted that Johnson had another issue earlier in the round on 14 where an official was apparently consulted and Feherty notes his lie was "half in, half out of the bunker." Not sure how it pertains to 18, but worth remembering next time someone gets the chance to interview Johnson or Price.

As for early reaction, the writers weren't particularly sympathetic and are chalking this one up to Johnson and his caddy's ignorance, though I think it's far more complicated than that.

Gene Wojciechowski says Dustin Johnson will be haunted for life.

You can feel sorry for Johnson, but not because a rules infraction cost him a chance at a playoff or championship. Feel sorry for him because his indifference to that sheet of paper will haunt him forever.

Johnson has only himself to blame for committing one of the greatest mistakes in the history of majors golf. It was Roberto De Vicenzo-dumb, a sin of laziness.

Dave Kindred on Johnson for GolfDigest.com:

Now, maybe in the Sunday heat of a major, a guy can be forgiven for forgetting a rule.

But Dustin Johnson, after a quick shower, stood in a scrum of journalists and said he'd never read the local rule.

"I only look at it if I have a reason to," he said, meaning a rules sheet, "and I didn't see I had a reason to."

This is willful ignorance, which is a high-sounding way to say, Wow, what a rockhead.

In 1968 at the Masters, Roberto de Vicenzo signed for a 4 when he'd made 3 at the 71st hole.

The extra shot kept him out of a playoff with Bob Goalby.

De Vicenzo said, "What a stupid I am."

Now he has company.

Steve Elling for CBSSports.com:

So, save the bombast, please. Sure, Whistling Straits is a bizarre, man-made amalgamation of sand and rump-high hay, and stands as tribute to what man can do with an unlimited design budget and an army of bulldozers. The deconstructed, wild bunkers are part of the charm. In an attempt to simplify the confusion over which sandy portions are bunkers and which are waste areas -- in the latter, players are free to sole the clubs -- everything was deemed to be a bunker back in 2004.

The rule isn't exactly ambiguous, is it? There was some question in Johnson's mind whether he was in a bunker or not, but the nitty-gritty truth is, if there's sand, it's a trap. And he fell into it. The rules official explained as much as Johnson watched the replay, over and over.

"Pretty much he said that any piece of sand on the whole golf course is a bunker," Johnson shrugged.

Robert Lusetich for FoxSports.com:

This wasn’t Jim Joyce blowing the perfect game or Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal being allowed to stand at the 1986 World Cup.

This wasn’t a blown judgment call. And it certainly wasn’t, as the shrieking heads of sports talk radio are already proclaiming, the worst call in the history of golf.

As tragic as his undoing was, the truth is that Dustin Johnson has only himself to blame.

GolfChannel.com's John Hawkins writes:

Still, sympathists will continue to take issue over the fact that Johnson’s ball came to rest in an area filled with spectators, and that people who come out to watch major championships shouldn’t be allowed to stand in bunkers. No argument there, but a lot of passages in the Rules of Golf don’t seem to make sense, and any local addendum such as this is sure to raise eyebrows. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t posted. That doesn’t mean ignorance serves as a viable excuse.

Brian Murphy was tough on Johnson too--likening him to golf's Nuke LaLoosh--but he also wasn't buying the PGA's explanation of their walking rules official's lack of input and the crowd control situation.

So the problem of the crowds prevented clear communication between Johnson and the official? The walking official couldn’t scale the hill because he didn’t want to “hover?” That sounds awfully thin.

“If the walking official can prevent a breach of the rules, he will,” Wilson said. “But under the circumstances it was hard enough to get the player over there.”

Golf may be a high-falutin’ world of blue blazers and worship of The Rules, but let’s be honest: That’s some weak sauce.

Randall Mell paints a picture of the crazy scene around the clubhouse, and also comes to Johnson's defense.

It’s fitting that Johnson marched to the locker room to take a shower before coming out to speak with media after one of golf’s quirky rules cost him a shot at the championship. While Johnson cleaned up nicely, the sport’s going to have a hard time washing out the stain this leaves. Because as accustomed as we’ve become to golf’s mysteriously complex rules affecting outcomes, this was different.

This was a local rules decision that rings as a loco rule now. That’s loco, as in crazier than a golf course allowing thousands of fans to sit in and walk through “bunkers” that are IN play.

AP's Jim Litke touched on a theme that may develop: the rules scare people away from the game.

There's no mystery why so few people take up golf, or why so many of them quit. It's the hardest game there is to play, and that's just for those of us who play it recreationally. Hit a ball into a hazard, onto a cart path or even a sprinkler head and half the time, you need Mr. Wizard to determine the exact spot from which to play your next shot. This isn't going to win the game any new fans.

Jim Achenbach in a column I want to look at more closely when the Dustin settles.

I am ashamed and embarrassed to be a golfer.

The Dustin Johnson incident at the PGA Championship has made me heartsick (for DJ) and angry (with the rulesmakers and with golf course designer Pete Dye).

The sport I love is losing its mind, not to mention its credibility in the public eye. Try explaining to your non-golfer friends why an innocent golfer such as Johnson can be penalized for grounding his club in a hardscrabble area where thousands of spectators had been walking around. When Johnson hit his second shot on the 72nd hole, dozens of fans were still standing in this so-called bunker.

Mark Spencer picks up on similar themes and also wonders...

Armed with the knowledge that even the most veteran of world-traveled, PGA TOUR winners had trouble identifying what was to be deemed a bunker or not, the PGA of America STILL used the EXACT wording on the local rules sheet 6 years later.  News Flash: it didn't work last time, why do you think doing the same thing would bring a different result?

From the SI/golf.com Confidential:

Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Back to the idea that Johnson should've known the rule. As he said, it never crossed his mind that it was a bunker. You just couldn't see it. Even if he had the rule tattooed on his forehead, it wouldn't have helped because he couldn't tell it was a "bunker."

Hanger: That's why I'm not convinced it was a bunker. They've been saying all week that no one even knows for sure how many bunkers are on this course — they've tried to count them but haven't been able to do it. If that's the case, and I'm Dustin Johnson, I'm protesting until someone shows me a course map that clearly identifies a bunker in that exact spot. David Feherty was standing on that exact spot after the fact and he wasn't sure it was a trap.

Godich: There was a pretty good sized lip to the right. Feherty said it best.

Dusek: But with fans surrounding him, could Johnson see that lip? People were 10 deep around him in every direction.

Godich: Probably not. As said I before: 1. The caddie has to help him there. 2. I think he was stunned to see he had drawn such a good lie. The fact that he might have been in a bunker never crossed his mind.

Bamberger: Whenever a player's ball is sitting on sand, the alarms should go off. But it was mayhem, and he was playing for a major title.

Martin Kaymer

Bob Harig says they won't exactly be dancing in the streets in Germany:

And it is impressive considering his background. Germany is not a big golf nation. The country of some 80 million people has roughly 800,000 golfers and only 700 courses. Kaymer played soccer early on and then took up golf through his parents. It wasn't until he was 15 -- 10 years ago -- that he got serious about the game.

Langer, who was part of the big five of European golf in the 1980s and 1990s (along with Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam), gave the game a big boost at home but it is still nowhere near the level it is in the United States or the United Kingdom.

"The problem in Germany is that golf is a recreational sport,'' said Frieder Pfeiffer, who works for the website golf.de and was the only print reporter from Germany at the PGA Championship. "We have a lot of golfers but not so many who follow it as a sport. If we post [articles about] lessons, it gets more clicks than a story about Tiger Woods.''

Good news for Tim Finchem!  Kaymer plans to join the tour in 2011.

Sean Martin on Kaymer, the Ryder Cup and his personality.

“I’m a pretty normal guy,” Kaymer said. “If you know the Germans, most of the people in the world think that they are a boring people. I’m not boring, but I’m not a crazy, crazy guy.”

Kaymer clinched his spot on the European Ryder Cup team by winning at Whistling Straits. He should be an asset for the team. He’s a strong ballstriker – tied for sixth in greens in regulation this week – who’s also lauded for his mental fortitude.

“He’s just the most mentally strong person I’ve ever known, in every part of his life,” his girlfriend, Allison Micheletti, said. “He never complains, and just does what he needs to do.” 

Bubba

Nancy Armour on the runner up, who is happy to be on the Ryder Cup team. So is the Twittersphere.

Again, the SI/golf.com gang:

Godich: I'll go with Bubba, too. Yeah, he hits it a mile, but he's got more game than that. I also loved the way he handled the interview, though his comment about the six-iron that found the water was a bit baffling. Did he really think that ball had a chance to get to the green?

Evans: He thought he was going to catch a flyer.

Van Sickle: Exactly, Farrell.

Godich: He also said that he thought the ball was going to find the green when it was in the air.
Evans: Maybe he's a little delusional about that one.

Van Sickle: Bubba has a kind of Tin Cup thing going on. Self taught, an odd swing with moving parts, swinging legs, happy feet. But he works. And like John Daly, he's got a lot more touch around the greens than you'd expect. A pretty game showing here. He might just make some history in this game. I wouldn't have said that a week ago. I'm impressed.

Scott Michaux on the Ryder Cup situation clearing up as Bubba and Dustin edge out Tiger for the final qualifying spots:

It paled in comparison to the big fat Wanamaker Trophy that they gave to Germany's Martin Kaymer, but it was a worthy parting gift for the two Americans who played the best down the stretch at Whistling Straits on Sunday.

"Ryder cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Watson Tweeted minutes after losing to Kaymer with a scrambling double bogey on the last of a three-hole playoff.

"Yeah," was all Johnson could say before leaving the course after a controversial two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a trampled bunker cost him his own spot in the playoff.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin offered his own congratulations in a Tweet to the two players who leaped into the top eight and displaced Anthony Kim and Lucas Glover for automatic spots. Pavin will hold a press conference Monday morning in Milwaukee to discuss his eight qualified players.

Other Stuff

Keith Bradsher on the amazing week of Liang Wenchong, whose performance went unnoticed in China because of a day of national mourning there for over 1200 flood victims.

Jeff Babineau on Tiger Woods, who says he doesn't think he can help the U.S. squad playing like this.

Sam Weinman's Birdies and Bogies.

Here's a nice "final word" page devoted to all PGA/PGATour.com stories.

Chapeau Noir has the rundown on final day fashion, including Steve Elkington's interesting ensemble.

As for Whistling Straits, a couple of real keepers from Michael Bamberger in the SI/golf.com roundtables:

Bamberger: The course is so unnatural that the players can't tell the hazards from the playing surfaces. I know everybody seems to love this course, but when it's all said and done, and I know I'm repeating myself here, it represents all that's wrong with modern design. Obscenely expensive and unplayable for us — or me, anyway.

And...

Bamberger: You build a course that looks spectacular on TV and challenges the best players, so naturally it gets on TV. Once it's on TV, everybody with an AmEx card wants to go play it, and because they've shelled out so much they don't want to admit that it's impossible to play, and the myth perpetuates itself. Genius.

Morfit: I haven't liked this place from the moment I first saw it in '04. It's unwalkable for fans and media. You look at St. Andrews and think, Ah, the history. You look at this place and think, Ah, the checkbook. In a way it's fitting that it came down to a contrived bunker/non-bunker that was built to be a sand trap but not really look like one. Classic over-design.

Garrity: I agree with Michael's critique of what I call the Gilded Age of Golf Course Design. These tracks cost too much to build and maintain, and they're way too hard for weekend golfers to play. But I think it's fine to have a few over-the-top tracks around for the pros to play on TV. Whistling Straits is flat-out gorgeous, and it's a treat just to walk it. Assuming, of course, you don't break an ankle on those slippery dunes.

And finally, we wrap up with Brian Murphy visiting the crime scene two hours after the end of play.

Two hours later, in the gorgeous late summer gloaming, beyond where Kohler walked, a handful of fans still hung around the bunker, not wanting to leave. It had almost become an instant monument in golf history, “The Spot Where Dustin Johnson Grounded His Club,” the golf equivalent of Jim Morrison’s gravesite, visited by pilgrims.

One fan grabbed a handful of sand and put it in a Ziploc bag, to take home for safekeeping. Two brothers, Ben and Andy Fredrick of Appleton, Wis., drew a circle around the spot where Johnson’s ball was, making photos easier for amateur historians. They were almost caretakers of the ground, curators. One of them said he drew the circle for fans to see and was proud of his work.

The bunker, in plain view, looks too bunker-ish to be mistaken for anything else. There’s even a lip to it and a shape. Johnson himself, if he went out to see it again, would have to agree.

And yet the Fredrick brothers felt sympathy for him, saying the moment was intense and rushed and “chaotic,” with people everywhere, the hillside densely populated, the features hard to discern. They remembered the rules official offering only one piece of advice, asking Johnson if he needed more people out of the way to hit his shot.

A silence hung in the air, the fans staring at the sandy spot. Nobody would forget the sight anytime soon.