"The term 'punishment' can be pretty elastic when everything happens in secret."

The PGA Tour's suspension of policy to comment on suspensions or rumored suspensions prompted two strong commentaries about the perils of Commissioner Tim Finchem's emphasis on secrecy over transparency.

From Matthew Rudy at GolfDigest.com:

The term "punishment" can be pretty elastic when everything happens in secret.

How would it look if a journeyman like Doug Barron got suspended for a year for elevated testosterone and a star player received a different punishment for the same violation? Or if one player got fined for a positive test, while another got some secret time off or received no punishment at all?

It would mean the tour's primary concern is a player's marketing value, not enforcing basic fairness.

Say it isn't so.

Bob Harig at ESPN.com takes the tour to task for its handling of the Johnson situation and notes this about the overall lack of transparency:

Few care about the little wrist slaps the tour hands out because a player swears or throws a club or misses some function. Well, maybe in the case of Tiger Woods, who has probably provided a decent amount of petty cash for the tour office based on some not-too-subtle outbursts heard on the airwaves.

But anything that has to do with the competition itself should be announced. Instead, here comes a press release about the official mattress of the PGA Tour!

Slow play is not as serious as a drug-related issue, but it is a blight on the game. Players are routinely fined for a series of bad timings. Wouldn't public disclosure -- and perhaps the ridicule that comes with it -- help get players moving faster?