"We don't really like how the golf world is viewing these type of things, but at the end of the day, it is the players' responsibility to know the rules."

Bob Harig reviews the politics and particulars of the Villegas DQ at Kapalua and asks the USGA's Mike Davis about reviews of the penalty of disqualification for signing an incorrect card.

Many have wondered why golf's rules seem so inflexible on this. At the time he signed his card, he believed the score he wrote down on the 15th hole at Kapalua was correct. It wasn't until the next day it was discovered he was wrong. Why not just add the 2-stoke penalty -- signed scorecard be damned -- and let him remain in the tournament?

"We have had formal requests to review that," Davis said of both the USGA and the R&A, which governs the game outside of the United States and Mexico. "We've gotten it from the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour … and we have looked at it. One thing that has been proposed is assessing the penalty, and then adding an additional 2-stroke penalty -- so it would be a total of 4 strokes [if the penalty came to light after the card was signed]. At least the player would still be in the field.

That'd be better than what we have now. Naturally, it died in committee. A USGA committee.

"We looked at it long and hard. At the end of the day, it just didn't gain traction. There are just so many ramifications. We don't really like how the golf world is viewing these type of things, but at the end of the day, it is the players' responsibility to know the rules."

There is nothing stopping the PGA Tour from instituting a local rule that is not covered in the USGA rule book. But good luck with that.

"We could do that, but I don't know if we want to do that," Russell said. "It just doesn't work like that.