Wie DQ’d from State Farm over scorecard mishap

By DAVID MERCER, Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)—Michelle Wie finished the third round of the State Farm Classic alone in second on Saturday—then was disqualified for failing to immediately sign her scorecard a day earlier.

Wie was playing her best golf of the year, finishing off a 5-under 67 to get to 17 under for the tournament, one stroke back of Yani Tseng.

That’s when Wie was disqualified by LPGA officials, who said they’d learned during play Saturday from tournament volunteers about the 18-year-old’s mistake.

“I don’t know why or how it happened,” said Wie, who had been crying moments earlier. She took no questions before leaving the clubhouse at Panther Creek Country Club.

Sue Witters, the LPGA’s director of tournament competitions, disqualified Wie in a small office in an LPGA trailer at the golf course after asking her what had happened.

“She was like a little kid after you tell them there’s no Santa Claus,” Witters said.

Wie said that after she finished her round on Friday, she left the tent where players sign their scorecards and was chased down by some of the tournament volunteers working in the tent who pointed out she hadn’t signed.

Wie returned to the tent and signed the card.

“I thought it would be OK,” she said.

But Wie, according to Witters, had already walked outside the roped-off area around the tent. At that point, the mistake was final.

Witters said she and other tour officials didn’t learn about the error from volunteers until well after Wie teed off Saturday. They let her finish the round, then took her to the office where she and her caddy, Tim Vickers, were informed of the ruling.

Wie, who is playing a part-time schedule while attending Stanford, opened with a 5-under 67 and followed with rounds of 65 and 67—though the last two won’t count.

It’s not he first time a mistake has cost Wie, either. She was in fourth place during the third round of the 2005 Samsung World Championship—her professional debut—when she was disqualified for taking an improper drop.

Tseng shot a 6-under-par 66 on Saturday to snatch the lead from Christin Kim, who entered the day atop the leader board. Tseng is 18 under for the tournament, and didn’t bogey a hole while sinking four birdies and an eagle.

Kim shot a disappointing 73, finishing the day in a tie for eighth place, six behind Tseng.

With Wie’s disqualification, Katie Futcher finished the day in third place at 16 under. She shot 66 on Saturday.   

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-lpgatour-wiedisqualified&prov=ap&type=lgns

golf has so many stupid rules.

i mean, honestly...the fact that she didn't immediately sign her score card shouldn't negate the performance of the round, and more importantly, it shouldn't disqualify her from the tournament.

there shouldn't even be a penalty associated with this. if you forget to sign, you forget. considering they were able to get her to sign it almost immediately afterwards should be fine.

she's already destroyed her confidence by playing as poorly as she did last year. this performance may have been what she needed to get back on her game.

it's really too bad. she's not my favorite LPGA player, but i like watching her play.

 

 

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dan

LIVESTRONG

I agree....stupid rule. Does any other sport require signing a card for what you just did on national television? Golf channel discussion...."Does Kobe Bryant have to sign a card for how many points he scored in a game?"    Bob

I also fault the LPGA.  If not signing a card can result in such a severe penalty, there should be systems in place preventing golfers from not signing - or at the very least making it very difficult for a player not to.  If I was a sponsor, I would surely fault the LPGA for this and may even try to get someone removed from their position.  I also question the judgement of the official who made the ruling, because the criteria was based on an arbitrary position of what it means to leave the tournament. 

Rule 6. The Player

6-6 Scoring in Stroke Play

6-6b.  Signing and Returning Score Card

After completion of the round, the competitor should check his score.....He must ensure that the marker or markers have signed the score card, sign the score card himself and return it to the Committee as soon as possible.

The rulings on this rule are as follows - the competitor must sign before the close of the event.  The event is considered closed when the official announcements have been made - so if the volunteers chased Wie down after she left the tent - the competition could not possibly have been closed and the LPGA is full of ***.

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Ms. M.
Always Ready For Golf!!!

Hi Ms M,

First, Michelle wasn't DQ'd because of a golf rule because most golf rules are interpreted by a committee and there is some usually some common sense used when making those judgements. she was disqualified for violating an LPGA rule which states that the scorecard must be signed before laving the scoring area. And the scoring area is clearly defined in LPGA rules, supposedly. Unfortunately, I cannot find a copy of the LPGA rules anywhere. The LPGA was chastised and complimented both last year when it implemented rules governing slow play, but there seems to be much inconsistency in how they are applied.

Bottom line is that the LPGA does not seem to like Michelle Wie and has never really made things easy for her. This seems to be continuation of that. Unfortunately, scoring tents are usually manned by volunteers and the noticed that she did not sign her card. The even chased her down and had her sign it, so I give them credit for that. Truthfully, this should have been a non-issue, but the LPGA chose to make it one.

Although if she had gone on to win, some of her competitors may have had a grievance. That may have driven some of the decision. Better to chastise Michelle ( who is not really liked by most players) than to anger one of their own.

Seems a shame though, poor girl cannot get a break. Over-bearing parents push her into several mistakes angering other tour players and when it looks like she is back on her feet, the LPGA makes a mountain out of a molehill and knock her down again. I hope someday she is able to make ith through all of this crap. I had a chance to meet her and she really is a nice sweet girl.

Just my thoughts,

Mo

PS, sorry about Jean Van de Velde. I guess sentiment just can't get the ball in the hole. It didn't work for Norman either.

Mo Daluan:

Hi Ms M,

First, Michelle wasn't DQ'd because of a golf rule because most golf rules are interpreted by a committee and there is some usually some common sense used when making those judgements. she was disqualified for violating an LPGA rule which states that the scorecard must be signed before laving the scoring area. And the scoring area is clearly defined in LPGA rules, supposedly. Unfortunately, I cannot find a copy of the LPGA rules anywhere. The LPGA was chastised and complimented both last year when it implemented rules governing slow play, but there seems to be much inconsistency in how they are applied.

Bottom line is that the LPGA does not seem to like Michelle Wie and has never really made things easy for her. This seems to be continuation of that. Unfortunately, scoring tents are usually manned by volunteers and the noticed that she did not sign her card. The even chased her down and had her sign it, so I give them credit for that. Truthfully, this should have been a non-issue, but the LPGA chose to make it one.

Although if she had gone on to win, some of her competitors may have had a grievance. That may have driven some of the decision. Better to chastise Michelle ( who is not really liked by most players) than to anger one of their own.

Seems a shame though, poor girl cannot get a break. Over-bearing parents push her into several mistakes angering other tour players and when it looks like she is back on her feet, the LPGA makes a mountain out of a molehill and knock her down again. I hope someday she is able to make ith through all of this crap. I had a chance to meet her and she really is a nice sweet girl.

Just my thoughts,

Mo

PS, sorry about Jean Van de Velde. I guess sentiment just can't get the ball in the hole. It didn't work for Norman either.

 Mo, well stated!  I like your post.

 

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http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-wie-pgatour&prov=ap&type=lgns

Fresh off a disqualification on the LPGA Tour, Michelle Wie has decided to tee it up against the men, again.

Wie will play next week in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, the first time she’ll play on the PGA Tour this year, tournament organizers said.

It will be her eighth time playing on the PGA Tour, and she has yet to make a cut. The only time Wie has made money playing against the men was on the Korean Tour, in 2006, at the SK Telcom Open.

“It’s not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world,” Wie said in a statement. “This is a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from these great players and take those lessons into the future to becoming the best player I can be on any tour. This is another step in the process of making me a better player.”

Wie, who is 18 and attends Stanford part time, has no status on any tour. She has only one sponsor’s exemption left this year. She will be playing her seventh and final LPGA Tour event of this year at the CN Canadian Women’s Open in August.

The Reno-Tahoe Open starts July 31 at Montreux Golf & Country Club. The Nevada tournament is one of the weakest fields on the PGA Tour, held opposite the World Golf Championship in Ohio. Steve Flesch won the Reno-Tahoe Open last year.

“This will be a great experience for the community to see a player like Michelle in this setting,” tournament director Michael Stearns said in a statement. “Michelle is getting her game together, she’s getting back in the swing of things and we have no problem extending her this opportunity.”

Wie showed signs of improvement this past weekend at the State Farm Classic in Illinois. She was a shot off the lead going into the final round when Tour officials discovered that she had left the scoring area without signing her scorecard after Friday’s second round. Wie finished her round Saturday, and after officials spoke with her about the scorecard problem, she was disqualified.

A win or high finish would have all but guaranteed her enough money to finish in the top 80 LPGA players this year, the cutoff for automatic inclusion in next year’s tour.

There’s been speculation Wie would concentrate solely on women’s competition, especially after last year when she injured both wrists and made only two cuts.

Wie’s chances of securing a 2009 LPGA Tour card now rest with her winning roughly $80,000 in her final tournament, which probably would take a top-three finish. Otherwise, she could be headed to the first of two stages of qualifying.

“I think the qualifying conflicts with school, so I probably won’t go to that,” Wie said last month at the U.S. Women’s Open in Minnesota. But that was when she had greater hopes of winning enough money to become exempt for next year.

Her father made it sound as though Q-school was a distinct possibility at the time.

“What other options do we have?” he said

Mo Daluan:

Hi Ms M,

..............she was disqualified for violating an LPGA rule which states that the scorecard must be signed before laving the scoring area.........

 PS, sorry about Jean Van de Velde. I guess sentiment just can't get the ball in the hole. It didn't work for Norman either.

Yes, Mo - should have been a bit clearer in the post.  That's what I was contesting - the LPGA committee interpretation of - as soon as possible and before the close of the competition - which seems to br defined as - before leaving the tent area.  When I read that the LPGA official who made the ruling said something to the effect of Wie was crying like a child told there was no Santa Claus, I wondered if there is a bias against Wie by this official.  What an odd thing to say - it sounds like mocking.

Van de Velde made a good run at it, tied for 19th.  I think our good wishes had a lot to do with it! 

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Ms. M.
Always Ready For Golf!!!

It's the rules of the game. That's how they made it. You have to follow all the rules of the game.

Even if she did get disqualified, she should know she had to sign it, because she's done it many times before.

 

I am the furthest you can get from being a Michelle Wie fan, but this was and is ridiculous.  In today's age we're still disqualifying people for such a thing?  The whole scoring yourself and signing the scorecard is getting a little redundant.  I don't mind if they want to keep doing it the way they do it in terms of keeping score and such, but please make it a traditional thing to do, don't let anyone's round rest on it.  Unless they are falsely recording scores, who cares?  Everyone knows what everyone shot, let please stop disqualifying individuals for such petty things.

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Actually, it is not the rules of the game. The rule is as stated in Ms M's post:

6-6 Scoring in Stroke Play

6-6b.  Signing and Returning Score Card

After completion of the round, the competitor should check his score.....He must ensure that the marker or markers have signed the score card, sign the score card himself and return it to the Committee as soon as possible.

They DQ'd Michelle for leaving the scoring area without signing her scorecard. After being chased down by volunteers, she signed her card before laving the general area, but the LPGA disqualified her anyway. Did they have to disqualify her? for the answer to that, here is another real "Rule of Golf" to ponder:

33-7. Disqualification Penalty; Committee Discretion

A penalty of disqualification may in exceptional individual cases be waived, modified or imposed if the Committee considers such action warranted.

As I said earlier, Michelle Wie did not violate a RULE of GOLF. The LPGA interpreted rule 6 and disqualified her based on their interpretation. Have other players forgotten to sign a card and not gotten DQ'd? Probably. If it was Annika Sorenstam or Lorena Ochoa or Nancy Lopez, would they have gottten DQ'd? Probably not.

The DQ in my humble opionion was just another indication of the LPGAs dislike of Michelle Wie and her playing in the men's tournament again this week is just going to expand the rift between them.

What a shame!

Mo

dude, she so got ripped off!!!! she just started getting in the swing of things then she gets dq'd!!!! it is so the lpga's fault

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AVERY HEFFERNAN

They shouldn't disqualify her if she brought in her scorecard signed. They shouldn't of done that.

Also, she started to get back in the game after the bad year last year.