"Self-governance took a hit in that bunker and communal-governance took a hit in the incident’s aftermath."

Michael Bamberger brings calm, perspective and a very simple explanation as to why Patrick Reed will have a hard time changing the narrative, no matter how much great golf he plays after last December’s waste bunker lie improvement: “That afternoon, he made a mockery of golf’s underlying principle: Play the ball as it lies.”

Read it all at Golf.com, but this was strong and perhaps helpful for those struggling to understand why the story isn’t going away:

Koepka, Kostis and Chamblee weren’t just playing with New Year’s Eve noisemakers. They were defending golf’s organizing principle: play the ball (all together now) as it lies. These are serious people. Anybody who has played a lot of golf knows that what Koepka said is true: you know where your clubhead is and what it’s doing. Your clubhead has the ability to detonate a bomb. Your hands are on the grip, your ball is underneath you and you know exactly where the clubhead is and what it’s doing. Professional golf is not played casually. It’s a study in obsessive-compulsive behavior. It’s a study in self-governance and communal-governance.