Dustin Johnson, at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, just got whacked with an amazingly tough penalty to suffer. Johnson’s primary defense, in my opinion, is not the existence of the lip somewhere in the periphery, but the presence of grass growing right near his ball. Mark Wilson, the rules official, explained with reasonable thoroughness, the situation and the extent to which the players were warned about these oddball bunkers, outside the ropes.
Jim Nantz later says: They briefed us on this. Well, if they briefed you on it, why did nobody on the crew have the faintest idea that they were looking at a golfer standing in an actual hazard.
“I never once thought I was in a sand trap,” said Johnson, interviewed by David Feherty. “I thought I was on a piece of dirt that the crowd had trambled down,” he continued, standing outside the locker room in his tee shirt. “It’s not up to me, so, I gotta deal with it,” said Johnson matter-of-factly.
Oh well, at least it’s just the PGA Championship, not the U.S. Open or the Masters.
