Golf

LPGA Icon Juli Inskter Was Disqualified This Weekend, Thanks To…TV Viewer?

by Glenn Davis | 1:52 pm, August 23rd, 2010

Thought rules violations in golf couldn’t get any weirder than Dustin Johnson’s PGA Championship nightmare? Unfortunately for Juli Inkster, you’d be wrong. Inkster was disqualified from the Safeway Classic over the weekend (eventually won by Ai Miyazato) after a TV viewer caught her swinging a weighted club to warm up, a rules violation.

Inkster had a solid reason to take extra warmup precautions: her round was delayed by excess traffic ahead of her on the course. In her words, “I had a 30-minute wait and I need to loosen up.” But TV cameras showed her loosening up, and a viewer with an amazingly tight grasp on the golf rulebook couldn’t in good conscience let the infraction pass – so they notified the tournament.

And it’s not like this was just the capper to a rough weekend – Inkster was just three shots back of the lead. This is a seven-time major champion – she was capable of making a run. But it wasn’t to be, leaving her only able to say, “It is what it is,” and that she was (understandably) “very disappointed.”

So whose obscure violation was more crushing: Inkster’s or Johnson’s? For the enormity of the moment ruined, Johnson wins – not only was it a major, but his violation took him out of contention on the last hole of the entire tournament, while Inkster was DQ’d on Saturday.

But for the sheer improbability of the DQ – well, that has to go to Inkster. The combination of getting such a seemingly innocuous act 1) caught on camera and 2) caught by a fan THAT observant, THAT well-aware of golf’s rules and THAT protective of them – not to mention the fact that the bad luck of having her round delayed that necessitated the warmup – is nearly impossible to fathom.

Still, as Stephanie Wei noted, Inkster should have known the rule. If a random TV viewer notices it, one of the finest LPGAers ever definitely should. And yet – we can’t help but feel bad for both her and Johnson. Rules are rules, but that doesn’t mean rules can’t also be a bit odd.

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