As you’ve probably heard by now, there will be NO BUNKERS at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island for this week’s PGA Championship. The below notice was distributed around to each workspace in the media center.
We received a press release a few weeks ago and I’ve seen this posted around all the player/caddie areas and, so you can’t miss it (and to prevent another major rules controversy — rule is opposite, but to prevent Dustin Johnson and Whistling Straits in 2010).
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Now the question is, do you rake or not rake? Okay, of course you rake. It’s common courtesy, but I’m sure there will be guys who don’t rake to screw over the guys playing behind them. Regardless, the areas are really firm, hard dirt (though I’m assuming softened from all the rain, I’m going to check it out right now), so they’re difficult to rake, anyway. It’s expected to potentially see a stray footprint or two. Just don’t hit it in the sandy areas.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
What would you do if you were a caddie and/or player?
*Update: Um, after walking the golf course on Wednesday and seeing the “sandy areas” and all the real bunkers, I foresee this to cause some type of controversy at a point during the tournament.
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Is there a penalty for not raking a bunker? I thought that was just common courtesy too.
Rake. You do NOT want to mess with karma…
Suppose Player T, a very popular player with a history of persuading spectators to assist him, plays early in the round. Can he encourage his fans to smooth the sand outside the ropes while he’s on the tee and gouge it after he passes? And suppose the fans do it on their own?
Well Phil usually hits it over the galleries heads, so I don’t think it will be an issue :eyeroll:
The player certainly could not encourage fans to engage is such behavior. That would constitute a breach of Rule 33-7, subjecting the player to disqualification by the Committee.
I think that the time that players will take w/ practice swings, cleaning the club face afterward, etc. will slow play down to an even more unbearable level. It’s so slow as it is. I don’t understand this policy. Has it always been the case at K.I. tournaments or is it just a knee-jerk response to primadonna player complaints to the Whistling Straits layout?
Everyday at KI Ocean bunkers are played this way and is supposed to speed play actually. Not sure if it acutally will but that’s the idea when amatuers are playing. fyi – bunkers were played this way in every other tournement that was held there including the Ryder Cup. This rule had nothing to do with DJ… that said, the media talking about it however has everything to do with DJ.
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