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| Calling the Shots From the Couch | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Jamie Epstein, a New Jersey lawyer, was watching the final round of the Players Championship on his laptop when the leader, Tiger Woods, drove the ball into the water on the 14th hole. Epstein was incredulous when Woods made his subsequent drop roughly 250 yards from the pin. From where Epstein sat, at a Whole Foods cafeteria, it appeared that Woods’s ball had crossed the hazard at the front of the lake, a couple of hundred yards closer to the tee. | Jamie Epstein, a New Jersey lawyer, was watching the final round of the Players Championship on his laptop when the leader, Tiger Woods, drove the ball into the water on the 14th hole. Epstein was incredulous when Woods made his subsequent drop roughly 250 yards from the pin. From where Epstein sat, at a Whole Foods cafeteria, it appeared that Woods’s ball had crossed the hazard at the front of the lake, a couple of hundred yards closer to the tee. |
| Epstein’s familiarity with golf’s byzantine rules is a result of working as a caddie as an adolescent in Philadelphia. If his background had been in soccer and he had seen Luis Suárez deliver a hand-ball assist that the officials missed, Epstein would have been helpless to right the wrong. But golf is different, as even the casual sports fan knows after this year’s Masters, during which a different viewer, the golfer David Eger, called to flag Woods for an illegal drop, setting off a chain of events that resulted a day later in a two-stroke penalty. | Epstein’s familiarity with golf’s byzantine rules is a result of working as a caddie as an adolescent in Philadelphia. If his background had been in soccer and he had seen Luis Suárez deliver a hand-ball assist that the officials missed, Epstein would have been helpless to right the wrong. But golf is different, as even the casual sports fan knows after this year’s Masters, during which a different viewer, the golfer David Eger, called to flag Woods for an illegal drop, setting off a chain of events that resulted a day later in a two-stroke penalty. |
| As soon as Woods made his drop on the 14th hole at T.P.C. Sawgrass after consulting with his playing partner, Casey Wittenberg, Epstein sprang into action. He looked up the general number for the course and called it. | As soon as Woods made his drop on the 14th hole at T.P.C. Sawgrass after consulting with his playing partner, Casey Wittenberg, Epstein sprang into action. He looked up the general number for the course and called it. |
| “I tried to get through, but I kept getting rerouted,” he said last week in a phone interview. “I never got through to anybody.” | “I tried to get through, but I kept getting rerouted,” he said last week in a phone interview. “I never got through to anybody.” |
| In desperation, Epstein sent an e-mail to a reporter at the course. Other reporters said they were also hearing from viewers questioning Woods’s drop. | In desperation, Epstein sent an e-mail to a reporter at the course. Other reporters said they were also hearing from viewers questioning Woods’s drop. |
| Eger is a Champions Tour player who once served as a tournament director for the PGA Tour and the United States Golf Association. But anybody can weigh in — offer “testimony,” as the rule book describes it — and in the month since the Masters, anecdotal evidence suggests that viewers are feeling empowered to say something if they see something. | Eger is a Champions Tour player who once served as a tournament director for the PGA Tour and the United States Golf Association. But anybody can weigh in — offer “testimony,” as the rule book describes it — and in the month since the Masters, anecdotal evidence suggests that viewers are feeling empowered to say something if they see something. |
| In the first 10 years of the Wells Fargo Championship, Kym Hougham, the tournament director, said his office received one phone call from a viewer reporting a possible rules violation. | In the first 10 years of the Wells Fargo Championship, Kym Hougham, the tournament director, said his office received one phone call from a viewer reporting a possible rules violation. |
| “It isn’t something that happens very often, at least at my tournament,” said Hougham, whose office received another call during this year’s event, three weeks after the Masters, from a viewer claiming that Sergio García had improperly marked his ball on the 17th green. | “It isn’t something that happens very often, at least at my tournament,” said Hougham, whose office received another call during this year’s event, three weeks after the Masters, from a viewer claiming that Sergio García had improperly marked his ball on the 17th green. |
| The message was relayed to the PGA Tour, which sent a rules official to study the tape with García, who was cleared after a half-hour review of his actions. Is it going to become common for “Survivor” call-in votes to break out at golf tournaments? | The message was relayed to the PGA Tour, which sent a rules official to study the tape with García, who was cleared after a half-hour review of his actions. Is it going to become common for “Survivor” call-in votes to break out at golf tournaments? |
| “As great as we are about bringing fans close to the game and feeling like they’re part of it, I don’t think fans should be able to call in and dictate the outcome of the tournament,” said Brandt Snedeker, one of the more accommodating players on the tour. | “As great as we are about bringing fans close to the game and feeling like they’re part of it, I don’t think fans should be able to call in and dictate the outcome of the tournament,” said Brandt Snedeker, one of the more accommodating players on the tour. |
| During a news conference before the Players Championship, Tim Finchem, the tour commissioner, addressed the issue of viewers’ having the power to affect results. | During a news conference before the Players Championship, Tim Finchem, the tour commissioner, addressed the issue of viewers’ having the power to affect results. |
| “If you’re asking my personal view, I kind of go back and forth on it,” he said. “On the one hand, it’s a pain. On the other hand, it’s interesting. It’s interesting when it happens.” | “If you’re asking my personal view, I kind of go back and forth on it,” he said. “On the one hand, it’s a pain. On the other hand, it’s interesting. It’s interesting when it happens.” |
| Other sports employ officials to review video of disputed plays and calls. As has been demonstrated over the years in other sports, a replay system is not foolproof. | Other sports employ officials to review video of disputed plays and calls. As has been demonstrated over the years in other sports, a replay system is not foolproof. |
| Such a system, if instituted in golf, would eliminate the lay middleman, if nothing else. The tour has experimented with placing rules officials in front of the television and letting them work from the same images as the phone-wielding public. | Such a system, if instituted in golf, would eliminate the lay middleman, if nothing else. The tour has experimented with placing rules officials in front of the television and letting them work from the same images as the phone-wielding public. |
| During the Sunday of the Players, Tyler Dennis, a rules official who played with Woods for one year at Stanford, was on site watching the telecast of Woods’s travails at No. 14 and his ultimate triumph. | During the Sunday of the Players, Tyler Dennis, a rules official who played with Woods for one year at Stanford, was on site watching the telecast of Woods’s travails at No. 14 and his ultimate triumph. |
| “We didn’t see anything at all that led us to believe that we needed to intervene in any way,” Dennis said. | “We didn’t see anything at all that led us to believe that we needed to intervene in any way,” Dennis said. |
| On the telecast, NBC’s roving reporter, Mark Rolfing, initially said that from his vantage point, it did not appear that Woods’s ball crossed much water, that it was aimed left from the start. | On the telecast, NBC’s roving reporter, Mark Rolfing, initially said that from his vantage point, it did not appear that Woods’s ball crossed much water, that it was aimed left from the start. |
| He sounded surprised to see Woods, after consulting with Wittenberg, his playing partner, make the drop so far forward. Woods, who made a double bogey, went on to win by two strokes. | He sounded surprised to see Woods, after consulting with Wittenberg, his playing partner, make the drop so far forward. Woods, who made a double bogey, went on to win by two strokes. |
| Epstein suggested carrying the video review system a step further by placing two rules officials in the television truck so they could see every shot, including the ones never broadcast. | Epstein suggested carrying the video review system a step further by placing two rules officials in the television truck so they could see every shot, including the ones never broadcast. |
| Dennis said, “I think what we’re trying to do is keep looking at it from all angles.” | Dennis said, “I think what we’re trying to do is keep looking at it from all angles.” |
| From where the viewers sit, there is the perception that sometimes they have a better grasp of the rules than the players they are watching. | From where the viewers sit, there is the perception that sometimes they have a better grasp of the rules than the players they are watching. |