Phil Did The Right Thing

Posted by John

February 1, 2010

I’m all for Phil sticking the Ping Eye 2 wedge in his bag at Torrey Pines. Please, save me from the ranters who decry him as a cheat. Golf is, always has been and hopefully will continue to be about following the rules!

In what other sports do players call there own fouls and infractions? That’s one of the greatest things about this game. Players have disqualified themselves even after looking like they’d won a tournament. That’s a great game ladies and gentlemen.

If Phil were cheating, he’d be disqualified, plain and simple. That’s the way golf works. It’s not like he’s hiding the Ping wedges in his bag or has masked out the logo. He’s merely playing ‘by the rules’. Remember, any other player can play the Ping Eye 2 wedges too.

Listening to Phil’s interview this past Friday made it pretty clear why he has the wedges in his bag. He doesn’t like the loophole. It’s one of those irritating things that golf’s ‘rules’ foment sometimes.

If you want unfair, how about being penalized on a steeply sloping green, rolling 12 on the stimpmeter on a very windy day after you have grounded your putter and your ball moves before you’ve contacted it.

That may seem unfair, but it’s the rules of golf. The players on Tour can’t all get together and decide to ignore that rule. Back to Phil. He’s playing the Ping Eye 2 to make a point and, I believe, an important one. He’s drawing everyone’s attention to the problem so it can be corrected before the Ping wedge fiasco impacts a Major.

Look, Phil didn’t create this problem, it was the USGA, but he’s smart enough to realize that it’s going to affect the game, at least in the minds of the media. Phil actually said he didn’t think there was much difference between the old Pings and modern wedges available to the pros. Maybe you have better eyes than I do, but I didn’t notice anything especially different about Phil’s wedge play versus the rest of the field.

Bottom line, do the Ping Eye 2 wedges make a real difference? Not in play, but they do in the media. The USGA has created a monster and now they, like Tiger, must ‘do the right thing’ and clean this mess up. Right On Phil!