Why would the tournament officials allow MIchelle Wie to play the entire third round on Saturday?

Question

Were they purposely trying to humiliate her by letting her be in contention then disqualify her? Do they not check cards after each round?

Answer 1

Good question. I guess she started before they found out about it, and they let her finish the round and then DQ'd her.

Answer 2

The tourney director Sue Witters obviiously doesn't like Wie.  She is just getting technical.  There's absolutely no reason to dq her.  Everyone knew the score.

The LPGA director is just trying to get publicity.

Answer 3

It's some dumb rule about she had left the tent with out signing her score card she then was reminded and signed it again.  But she had gone to far away from the tent so they DQ'd her.  It's kind of a ridiculous rule IMO.

Answer 4

A more sinister theory would be that the tournament sponsor and/or the LPGA wanted as much tv viewership and ticket sales as possible on Saturday - so they let Wie play.  After they had the money in their pocket, they dropped the bomb.

Answer 5

they checked and it was signed and they didnt find out until she already tee'd off for the day and they didnt want to disqualify her in the middle of the round unless it was a mistake.

Answer 6

The reason for the DQ is valid.  What puzzles me is that if she left the tent without signing, and was called back to sign the card, wouldn't the officials be the one calling her back?  Even if it was someone else, wasn't there officials IN the tent?  Are they idiots or had too much to drink to notice Wie left without signing the card?  This stinks.

Answer 7

The tour didn't learn of the mistake until saturday morning. By the time they investigated the claim she had already tee'd off for the 3rd round. It's a sign of courtesy not to pull someone off the course in the middle of a round.

Answer 8

She's a hack player and has no business being as popular as she is.

She's tall, asian, and beautiful.  In her case, her ability to play golf is definitely a secondary consideration.

Answer 9

This is not unusual in these cases.  I was racing a sailboat a few years back, and was disqualified for an illegal maneuver.  I learned four hours later of the disqualification.  It depends on the sport.  Not everything is like baseball or basketball.  Live and learn.

Answer 10

I am going to agree with you about the part of humiliate Wie.  once the players finish the 18th hole they headed for the scoring tent/shack to go over the score cards with an officals present. Each player add up the score of their playing partner and see if they both agree to the score, once they both agree that is their score for the round they sign both cards. that is how it done, its sad they pull this c**p on Wie. there is no way she should came out of the scoring area without sign the score card and top it off her playing partner would be the first to notice Wie didn't sign the score card.

they shouldn't allow her to play the round once they discover her card wasn't sign. that is rude to allow a player to play the round, if the person had a good round and a chance to be in the top 5 on the final round, that is heartbreaking to know that you're DQ over non sign score card.

Answer 11

She was penalized for signing the scorcard late (after leaving the tent),why wasn't she disqualifed at that moment ?

The LPGA found out a day later,why aren't they penalized for being late ?

Answer 12

Like everyone here says, they didn't find out until she already started the round - "well into".  But also Witters had a discussion with Wei in her "office" to find out what happened before she disqualified her.  She may not have pulled her out because she wasn't sure if Wei would be disqualified or not at the time of learning what happened.  Sometimes there are circumstances where she may not have been disqualified and Witters was letting her finish just in case.

Answer 13

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-s...

Witters said she and other tour officials didn't learn about the error from volunteers until well after Wie teed off on Saturday.

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Volunteers don't DQ players, LPGA Officials do, and it doesn't matter when it happen, or when the LPGA Officials find out. Eventually the officials were going to learn about what happened. If not from a volunteer, it would have been from a fan or another player. Once the officials knew she broke a rule, she's out; they will not let it slide no matter who you are.  

Players are not DQed in the middle of a round, that would be very disruptive for the other players.

Maybe whoever told did it to get back at Wie for what she has done in the past but as far as the officials go that doesn't matter. It would have been an even bigger stink if they had not DQed her.

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It is similar to what happened to Lee Janzen in August 1998; although he didn't tee off the next day:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...

. . . After he arrived at the Firestone Country Club, he was summoned into a meeting with tournament officials, who informed him of their decision to disqualify him. Tipped off by a telephone call from a television viewer, tournament officials reviewed a videotape of Janzen's first-round putt on the 17th hole. It was a putt that stopped tantalizingly close to the cup, with part of the ball hanging over the lip of the hole. After at least 20 seconds, the ball finally dropped.  Janzen signed for a 3, but, according to the United States Golf Association rules of golf, Janzen should have signed for a 4.

(Geez, talk about your instant replay. I never considered calling the NFL and telling them that Tom Brady's arm wasn't moving forward against Oakland, but that is essentially what this guy did.)

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If there is one sport that takes its rules seriously it is golf. No exceptions.

August 2007

Sergio Garcia was disqualified from the U.S. PGA Championship for signing an incorrect scorecard.

February 2005

Retief Goosen, fifth-ranked golf player in the world, (at that time) was disqualified from the Nissan Open at the Riviera Country Club because he was late for his 6:40 a.m. Pro-Am tee time.

March 2008

John Daly played a Monday pro-am at Bay Hill and was asked to play the Wednesday pro-am, too. He requested a morning start, and then called Tuesday to find out his tee time. A woman in the tournament office told him 9:47 a.m., which instead was his starting time for the first round on Thursday. He was DQed for missing his tee time on Wednesday.

Then in a domino effect Nick O'Hern and Ryuji Imada were DQ'ed as well. Imada and O'Hern were alternates for the pro-am, assigned to the afternoon group. But then they were the first two names called when Daly didn't show, and when neither was around, they also were disqualified from the $5.8 million main event. For missing the Pro-Am.

O'Hern lives only five minutes away at Isleworth and was furious to learn he would not be eligible.

"When I should have been on the tee, I was giving my girls breakfast," O'Hern said. "I thought common sense would have prevailed. This is a tough one to take.

Answer 14

She started before they found out and by stopping her it could have disrupted the tournament with players and the crowds.  

Generally if your terminated at a job they let you finish out your shift as well.

There's no great way to handle something like this and I'm sure the officials don't relish even doing this sort of thing but the rules are the rules.

If a player watches someone break a rule they would do the same thing.  The players are there to keep the field safe as well as other officials.  To keep the integrity of the game safe.

Answer 15

they making a big deal out of nothing who cares if she didn't sign it everyone there and watching on tv knew her score