Ryuji Imada and a cautionary tale
It's usual for players to receive a fine of a few shots after violating certain rules but a 26 shot penalty is something new. Ryuji Imada, a PGA professional, faced a ‘26’ shot penalty at the Mission Hills Star Celebrity pro-am.
The PGA professional was paired with Danny Lee who is a former U.S. Amateur champion at the tournament. Lee recognized his opponent's mistake at the 12th hole of the event and informed him that Imada had failed to recognize the local lift, clean and place ball rule.
The Mission Hills Star Celebrity pro-am was being administered by The Asian Tour and according to their rules, the ball was supposed to be replaced by the length of the scorecard. Imada, however, didn’t recognize the change in the rules and was replacing his ball with the length of the full club standard.
After Lee pointed out Imada’s error, the thirty four year old informed the tour officials about his violation. According to the rules, Imada had to enlighten the officials about the number of times he had actually broken the rules but he couldn't remember. However, after some estimation, the PGA professional told that his game underwent a 13 time infringement and was thus bestowed with 26 penalty shots.
He achieved two strokes per breach and thus carded his final score of 97 at the Mission Hills Star Celebrity pro-am with a 24 over. His second round ended with a 72 but his final score still placed him last at the 18-player field.
"I'm a fool," Imada said.
After signing his scorecard with a 97, Imada admitted that he had failed to read the local rules.
This statement sounds familiar to those who followed the PGA Championship of this year. Where Imada failed to read the local rules at the Pro-am, Dustin Johnson faced a two shot penalty after grounding his club at the championship. The event was the 72nd in number and his mistake cost him a good two shot penalty.
Just as Imada admitted his rule-forgetting nature, Dustin Johnson also accepted that he had forgotten to study the regulations. The rules at the PGA championship were under the PGA of America which had specifically stated how each bunker should be played. The rules also stated how anything that resembles the bunkers should be played.
Given the situation, many critics now question if it's too hard for these professional to read rules before playing any event. If a golfer is playing at a million dollar event on a golf course that costs God knows how many dollars for its maintenance, then it's imperative for these players to at least give one good look at how they're supposed to play.
Had Imada not achieved a penalty, he would have been tied for the lead. Of course there are some rules that are just too harsh for the golfers, such as the one where the ball moves by itself at hilly lie or the one which dates back to the wartime in England. According to that rule, if the bombings are carried out at the same time as the golfer's stroke then the player may play another shot. It won't cost him two but only one shot penalty.
Both players, Imada and Johnson forgot to read the rules and thus gave up substantial potential fame. Imada was on his way to winning the China Tournament and Johnson was in a play-off that was about to hand him his first ever major championship. Instead, the players ended up handing the media some extremely cautionary details.
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