Another Player Unwilling To Take Responsibility: Bamberger Breaks Down Mayfair DQ And It's Not Pretty For Billy

Simplified rules debuted this year.

There are PGA Tour referees on-site to help deal with any questions.

And there is the glare of a national broadcast seemingly to keep players aware their movements can be watched and re-watched.

That did no stop Billy Mayfair from skirting or flagrantly breaking the rules of golf.

In a devastating breakdown by Golf’s Michael Bamberger of Mayfair’s recent Powershares QQQ disqualification at Sherwood, the Champions Tour player’s behavior is not only exposed, but Mayfair even has the audacity to deflect blame onto rules official Brian Claar despite being caught on tape lying about causing his ball to move and the length of a lost ball search.

For this alone, Mayfair ought to be suspended for a significant period:

“I wish this could have been handled more on an on-the-level basis,” Mayfair said. “It could have been handled better.”

Handled better by whom, Mayfair was asked.

“By the rules officials,” Mayfair said. “They see me searching for the ball. They know how long I’m looking for it. They have a stopwatch and I don’t.”

Certainly I’d advocate reading the story as Bamberger provides a great deal of the backstory and corroboration behind that search to make clear Mayfair’s take is dead wrong. But besides Mayfair’s changing stories and attempts to skirt the rules, the story highlights two other embarrassing details: just how few people watching PGA Tour Champions golf were watching and recording on a DVR, and then able to post on social media the offending ball movement seen live.

There were a few who noticed at the time:

Despite Golf.com having seen video of the incident—I have since been shown the clip and can corroborate that there is zero doubt Mayfair caused his ball to move as outlined by Bamberger—the PGA Tour once again as a transparency issue.

Two Golf Channel employees said the clip could not be shared with GOLF.com because broadcast rights revert to the PGA Tour 48 hours after a tournament concludes. Tom Alter, a vice president in the PGA Tour’s communications department, said the Tour could not make available a clip of Mayfair on the 17th hole, citing Tour policy. Asked about providing a transcript of the 15-second conversation between Mayfair and the official, Alter said, “We don’t have the resources for that.”

This, as they build a new headquarters designed by the guy who did Apple’s new campus. (Unpaid advertisement here: Rev is a wonderful transcript app and just $1 a minute, Tom! Need a better answer next time.)

There was also this:

The ball search on the 11th hole was not shown on Golf Channel, although it was taped by the cable network.

That film was used by rules official Claar to confront Mayfair about the second infraction in the same round, which ultimately led to the DQ.

Overall, the story may be an isolated situation revolving around a player desperate to cash a check. But golf is once again confronted with a cavalier approach to the rules and exposure of a culture that justifies this approach because, apparently, rules are now meant to be bent, if not broken. Strange times.

This episode also once again highlights the issues golf will face with legal gambling and disclosure. If a player is caught violating the rules, the gamblers will be entitled to a full explanation and analysis of what possibly cost them money. That would presumably include visuals and the resources to reproduce a transcript of a conversation shown on national airwaves.