In defense of Sarah Brown

I was blown away by this story. Sarah Brown, a rookie on the Duramed Futures Tour, was disqualified from the final round of the recent Futures Tour event. On the tenth hole of her final round, she was notified that here Ping wedges were not conforming to the new rules. Sarah was disqualified mid-play. I have so many problems with this. First, you should never be disqualified mid-round for anything. The only way a player doesn't finish his/her round is by her own decision. Second, play was held up for twenty minutes while the rules officials looked at a laptop to find out if her wedges were conforming. You never hold up play that long unless it's for a rule decision that is required to finish the hole. Third, players should never be able to voice their concerns about another players clubs to an official during the round. It either needs to happen before the round or after the round. Here's the main problem. Her clubs were effin conforming to the rules of play!

The rules officials in this case messed up. They messed up on so many levels. It's so laughable. What you should know is that Sarah Brown is an eighteen year old trying to make living playing golf. In case you haven't noticed, making a living playing women's golf is neither easy or lucrative. Purse money and tournaments aren't what they were a few years ago so any money these players earn is big for their psyche. Brown was also having her best tournament of the year. She was looking at a possible top ten and maybe even top five. She would have earned a check of at least $1000. Brown was denied that chance. Lets look at how this went down.

-A rules official is notified around the 9th hole that Brown might possibly have illegal clubs in her bag. The rules official then examines her clubs on the next tee to see if that is the case.

Problems: No player should be allowed to report this during the round of play. It should only be reported before or after a round. A player can be disqualified up to two hours after the round of play. That is more than enough time to research any problems. The rules official should also not be allowed to look inside a players bag during the round. Before and after the round is the only proper time to do such a thing.

-Tenth tee: Brown tees off and is notified by rules officials of a possible equipment violation. Brown can't believe it. She was sure she had proper equipment. Most golfers are honest people on the course. If Brown found her clubs to be illegal then she would DQ herself before anyone else would. Rules officials then halt play to inspect her clubs. They consult the USGA website to look to see if it conforms. They hold up play for twenty minutes.

Problems: Rules officials have a full two hours after a player completes his/her round to DQ this person if necessary. Rules officials decided then and there to DQ Brown. Brown and her caddy (her dad) plead with officials to let them finish the round. Officials say no. At this point is when it turns into the officials wanting the spotlight on them and not letting this player finish the round. They wanted to be the ones who caught a player not following the rules. All the did was put an awful spotlight on a tour that doesn't need bad publicity.

These rules officials should flat out lose their jobs. It turns out this was just a case of these two officials not reading the USGA website correctly. These officials also had testing equipment on-site they could have used to see if her clubs were illegal. They never used it. They were arrogant enough not to use the equipment available to them to avoid such a situation. I would file suit against the tour if I was this girl. From all reports, this girl cried her eyes out right there on the golf course. I also hear that her and her family have handled the situation very well.

I hope the tour does the right thing here. I'm not sure what that is but it needs to go overboard. Nothing is worse in golf than being called a cheater. That's the last thing a golfer wants to be branded as.