Dustin's Folly: Unfortunately Johnson Only has Himself To Blame

No one can ever say golf is not boring if Tiger Woods is not in contention.

So let's re-create the situation. Dustin Johnson comes to the last hole of the PGA Championship with a one stroke lead over Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer.

Par wins on the tough 18th hole of Pete Dye's Whistling Straits course.

Dustin booms a drive way right into the spectators and pulls a sandy but clean lie. The area has been trampled by spectators so he is actually fortunate and draws a decent lie. Dustin blasts it 200+ yards but left of the green. He pulls off a miraculous pitch shot but JUST misses a putt for par and the title.

He taps the ball into the hole and walks off the green, getting ready for a playoff, where he is met by the rules official.

That sandy trampled lie turns out to be a bunker or sand trap. According to the rules of golf a player cannot ground his club in a bunker (aka put the club on the ground). If a player does so, it adds two strokes to his score as a penalty. 

Without a doubt Dustin put the club on the ground. That is not the issue. See, there are two types of "bunkers" in golf. There is the classic bunker that you see around every golf course where you cannot ground your club. Then there are waste bunkers or waste areas where you can ground your club. The difference is usually obvious. Waste bunkers are unkempt and not raked and sometimes have grass and plants growing in them. Regular bunkers are holes in the ground that are well kept and groomed. 

The problem is that Dustin Johnson treated his lie as a if he was not in a bunker. Therefore he was assessed a two stroke penalty and eliminated from the playoff.

Personally I think it is crazy to have that area be considered a bunker. If fans can walk, build sand castles and spill beer in it, it is not a bunker. It is a waste area and Dustin should have been able to ground his club. 

That being said, the PGA went to extraordinary lengths to make sure the players were aware of the rule. They posted signs in the locker room and made sure the players were aware of the quirky ruling. It is Dustin's responsibility to be aware of this rule. Unfair?

Ya, absolutely, but even at the high school and college level players are handed rules sheets that highlight local rules that might come into play at that specific golf course. Dustin said he never looked at it.

Winning a major championship is about keeping your cool under pressure and part of of that requires you to be aware of your surroundings and Dustin was not. He said it himself, he never even thought it was a bunker. 

Unfortunately people who don't really play or follow golf won't understand. Golf is a game where rules and integrity reign supreme. It is not like other sports where you try and get away with as much as possible. If you break a rule you call it upon yourself. It is one of the beauties of the game and what truly makes it different and unique. However the average sports viewer, understandably wont see that. They will see a young charismatic player getting "screwed."

I'm not saying that I love it. But it is not the first time that a player has faced a ruling controversy down the stretch at a major and it will not be the last. I hope more than anything Dustin Johnson will win a major someday. I wasn't a big fan before but now I am just one of the many men and women who are jumping behind this young man and rooting for him at Augusta in 2011.