Rules violation knocks out Johnson
Source: Agencies |
August 17, 2010, Tuesday
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There was no shortage of sympathy for American Dustin Johnson after he was penalized for grounding his club in a bunker to lose a spot in a playoff.
The two players who did contest the playoff, winner Martin Kaymer of Germany and American Bubba Watson, expressed condolences, while the official who imposed the two-stroke penalty paid tribute to the way Johnson handled himself when told the grim news.
"I can't describe anything other than to say he was a perfect gentleman to me," said Mark Wilson, co-chairman of the PGA of America rules committee.
Johnson was docked two shots for the infringement on the last hole of the championship but lamented the circumstances.
Although the rules had clearly been explained to the players, Johnson said it was not clear to him that his ball was in a bunker because it landed off the fairway in a flat sandy area surrounded by a large group of spectators.
The Whistling Straits course has around 1,200 bunkers of different shapes and sizes and the one that trapped his ball was in an area trampled by the galleries, the American said.
If there was any small comfort to take from his two-stroke penalty that dropped him back to a tie for fifth, it was that it could have had far worse consequences.
Johnson ended up bogeying the hole to finish in a three-way tie, but had he holed his par putt on the last, he would have been alone in first place.
"I don't know if sad is the right word but I was a little bit shocked about Dustin Johnson," said Kaymer.
"Can you imagine if he would have made that putt on 18, he would have thought he won the golf tournament, and then all of a sudden he (was) finished."
It was the second cruel ending to a major for Johnson after he spectacularly blew a three-shot lead on the last day of this year's US Open to finish tied for eighth. His joint fifth-place finish in Wisconsin was his best result at a major.
Australia's Steve Elkington was tied for the lead with two holes to play when what seemed like a perfect tee shot on the par-three 17th trickled over a steep edge.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who would have been a day younger than Tiger Woods when the American won his first major, missed out on the playoff by a single stroke after several close putts.
The two players who did contest the playoff, winner Martin Kaymer of Germany and American Bubba Watson, expressed condolences, while the official who imposed the two-stroke penalty paid tribute to the way Johnson handled himself when told the grim news.
"I can't describe anything other than to say he was a perfect gentleman to me," said Mark Wilson, co-chairman of the PGA of America rules committee.
Johnson was docked two shots for the infringement on the last hole of the championship but lamented the circumstances.
Although the rules had clearly been explained to the players, Johnson said it was not clear to him that his ball was in a bunker because it landed off the fairway in a flat sandy area surrounded by a large group of spectators.
The Whistling Straits course has around 1,200 bunkers of different shapes and sizes and the one that trapped his ball was in an area trampled by the galleries, the American said.
If there was any small comfort to take from his two-stroke penalty that dropped him back to a tie for fifth, it was that it could have had far worse consequences.
Johnson ended up bogeying the hole to finish in a three-way tie, but had he holed his par putt on the last, he would have been alone in first place.
"I don't know if sad is the right word but I was a little bit shocked about Dustin Johnson," said Kaymer.
"Can you imagine if he would have made that putt on 18, he would have thought he won the golf tournament, and then all of a sudden he (was) finished."
It was the second cruel ending to a major for Johnson after he spectacularly blew a three-shot lead on the last day of this year's US Open to finish tied for eighth. His joint fifth-place finish in Wisconsin was his best result at a major.
Australia's Steve Elkington was tied for the lead with two holes to play when what seemed like a perfect tee shot on the par-three 17th trickled over a steep edge.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who would have been a day younger than Tiger Woods when the American won his first major, missed out on the playoff by a single stroke after several close putts.
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