A grown man somehow feels the need to assert his self-righteous golfing knowledge and put 16-year-old Michelle Wie in her place. Incredible meddling by a busybody. He oughtta be ashamed, but since there is no such thing as shame, perhaps he can just feel like a jackass:
Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, thought he had seen a miscue of Wie's on the day before the tournament ended. Wie was to be undone.
Bamberger, gifted with not only a writing ability but also the global positioning capacity of a satellite, summoned Robert O. Smith, the LPGA Tour rules official, and they trouped back out to the seventh green Sunday evening to reconstruct a drop from an unplayable lie Wie had made on Saturday. After two trips to the green and re-enactments by Wie and her caddy, the lass was disqualified. It was determined that the drop from which she played her ball was closer to the hole than the point from where she had lifted and placed it. A rules violation and disqualification.
The eagle-eyed Bamberger had been some 15 yards away on the fateful day. After Wie had holed out, he stayed behind and paced off the distances, from where the ball first landed and from where the drop was made. He contacted the tour rules guy, Smith, the next day, saying he'd become more uncomfortable the more he thought about it, and rules officials said Wie had in fact dropped the ball about 12 inches nearer the hole, still 45 yards away. Wie says if it was truly closer it may have been three inches nearer.
Link.
It's been awhile since I've insulted SI, so I'll take this opportunity: SI is a pompous magazine that is more concerned about "making a splash" than covering sports. If you want to lose your fantasy football league and NCAA tournament bracket, if you want to know about the most recent homosexual to make advances in the sporting world, or if you want to hear how a group of fifteen-year-old girls are bringing field hockey to Podunk, Wyoming, rely on SI coverage. It's cute and progressive. If you want real sports coverage, go on-line someplace or subscribe to The Sporting News.
