As far as the Lexi Thompson thing goes (and with it the “controversy” someone phoned in to The Masters about Sergio’s ball on 13):
I’ve played golf since 1968. I know I am responsible for following the rules. I take that very seriously. I think most golfers do.
But as a Mathematician, I know that it’s impossible to truly follow some of the rules. For example, Rule 20-3 (a) requires me as a player to replace a ball I have lifted after marking it “on the spot from which it was lifted…” But it is entirely impossible to replace it in precisely the same spot. If I were able to measure the location of the ball with sufficient precision, I would find that the ball after replacement would be some small amount of distance from where I picked it up. Thus, the rule cannot be followed to the letter.
Now, engineers know that this sort of thing is true. So they set parameters within which they must be accurate. Golf, too, has such parameters. When I replace a marked ball on the green, I try to put it back where I recall seeing it when I lifted it. If it’s a quarter-inch one side or the other, I probably don’t notice. As with anyone in the US after Jane Blaylock, I make darn certain it’s not any significant amount closer to the hole than where I lifted it from! But I am aware that it’s simply not possible to be precise in this.
Modern video changes the game in this regard. It has the ability to capture rules “violations” that no one would notice. Pull your club back in the bunker and touch five grains of sand on the way? That’s a technical violation of Rule 13-4 (touching the ground in the hazard with your club). Did you see it or notice it? Probably not. Did the video camera in Ultra-HD zoomed in on your club and the ball? Yep. Is some yutz sitting on a couch watching you going to call it in? Yep.
Golf itself realizes that this situation is untenable. Starting in 2019, assuming that the current proposals are adopted, a golfer cannot be penalized by later video if he/she did what could be “reasonably expected.” In other words, you won’t be penalized for not perceiving what a super-high-definition camera, running in super-slo-motion can perceive (or, more accurately, what a couch potato can perceive watching such a camera on his 85" Ultra-HD TV).
With this in mind, let’s talk about Lexi and her situation:
Lexi probably violated the Rule 20-3. I’ve yet to hear her defend herself by saying that she didn’t violate the rule. Phil Mickelson came out during the Masters and said that officials needed to start cracking down on what Lexi did, because it’s become a generally accepted “loose” (Phil’s word!) practice on the tours. BUT, the point is that no one in Lexi’s group viewed her as having violated the rule, nor did the officials observing the group. Indeed, apparently no one saw it who was watching on Saturday when she DID it. So we have to accept that, if it was a violation, it must have been relatively trivial.
With this in mind, is it truly fair to assess a penalty for the violation, solely because someone somewhere watching on TV managed to see it? Can you imagine if a football game’s score could be changed because someone calls in two quarters later and points out that there was a marginal holding call that didn’t get seen? Seriously? What happens if someone combs back through everything shown on Thursday, and sees it? Would Lexi have been penalized for the infraction THREE days later?? And if not, why not? How would the situation be any different?
As for the absurdity of penalizing her additionally for turning in a wrongly scored card, that’s just completely ridiculous. That penalty is intended for people who mis-score the round, based upon what everyone knows they did. How is she supposed to properly score her card, given that no one involved realized she “truly” scored two strokes more on the 17th? She should be told the penalty was applied, and given the opportunity to re-sign the card, with the penalty added to her score. Anything else is so stupid a result as to put into question for ever the legitimacy of the victory that Ms. Ryu “won”.