19th Hole
Rules violation at LPGA Q-Series leads to ugly fallout between players
Controversy marred last week’s LPGA Q-Series at Pinehurst No. 9, as a rules infraction led to a messy fallout, which extended to social media between players involved.
According to Golfweek, the controversy began during Thursday’s sixth round and involved Christina Kim, Dewi Weber, and Kendall Dye. With Weber set to play the par-3 17th (their eighth hole of the day), Dye motioned to Weber’s caddie to find out the club that their player was using off the tee, an action, which breaks Rule 10-2 under soliciting advice, resulting in a two-stroke penalty for both parties.
Kim decided to wait until the end of the round to inform a rules official and both players about the infraction, and though Dye stated to Golfweek that she was unaware that her gesture was in breach of the rules, both herself and Weber’s caddie confirmed that they had committed the infraction. Both Dye and Weber also admitted to Golfweek their disappointment in Kim waiting until the end of the round to report the issue.
The situation was not finished there, however, as Kim then took to social media to post a cryptic post-round tweet following the incident.
Kim spent plenty more time on social media following the tweet, where she defended her actions with a series of posts, and then appeared on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive to further assert her position, stating
“I’ve been called a nark. Unfortunately, the Rules of Golf don’t really care about who [are] your friends, don’t really care about your personal emotions, and one thing I pride myself in is my integrity and just knowing that I had to do the right thing.
“If I was going to sit there and try to protect my two friends, one, I’m in breach of the Rules, which is something I hold sacred, and two, that’s unfair to the other 95 players in the field, so it was a really tough decision.
“I wasn’t trying to start any drama. All I was trying to do is just remind people, hey, if you’re going to do something just make sure you do it within the confines of what is and isn’t allowed.”
On Sunday morning, Dye then had her say on the incident where she owned up to the error and expressed her regret at causing an “innocent player” to incur a two-stroke penalty, before slamming Kim’s “unprofessional” behavior in taking the matter to social media.
While Dye and Weber both missed out on earning their Tour cards for the 2020 season, Kim successfully attained her ticket for the new year.
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19th Hole
3-time PGA Tour winner calls for LIV to buy Champions Tour to fix ‘joke’ purses
While speaking on the Subpar podcast, former PGA Tour winner and current PGA Tour Champions player Chris DiMarco said he hopes LIV buys the Champions Tour.
“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” he said.
“Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25 million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”
In 2024, the Champions Tour had a total of $67 million in prize money over the course of 24 events.
DiMarco also defended LIV players for taking the money and said he would take it also.
“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money?”
DiMarco also offered insight on Graeme McDowell’s move to LIV.
“I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’ And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too.”
DiMarco was ranked as high as 6th in the world in 2006.
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19th Hole
‘It won’t win you golf tournaments’ – Golf analyst rips Charley Hull’s course management
Charley Hull came just short of her third LPGA Tour victory over the weekend at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship when she played her last two holes at 3 over to slip all the way to 10th on the leaderboard.
After the round, Hull was blasted by Sky Sports commentator and former LPGA Tour player Trish Johnson for her lack of golf course management.
While speaking on the Sky Sports Golf podcast, Johnson spoke harshly of Hull.
“I’m probably her harshest critic, because I know how good she is. She doesn’t win anywhere near enough for her talent, and she doesn’t get involved enough, in all honestly.
“The thing with Charley is that you’re never going to change her. I read something the other day that said how much she loves the game and it’s her love of the game [that costs her]. She’s never going to change and she’s just going to go for every pin.
“In theory that’s great, but it won’t win you golf tournaments, it just won’t because she’s not that much better than anybody else. If you put Charley against Nelly Korda, then I’m picking Nelly every single day of the week.”
Johnson also made a fascinating comparison between Hull and a famous male golfer, John Daly.
“Golf-wise that’s the way she plays the game and it’s a little bit like watching John Daly I suppose.”
“There’s something that John Daly had that made him a major winner and a winner, but Charley is kind of lacking that. Her talent is not in question, but maybe her application is. Maybe it’s just the case of her never changing and that will cost her golf tournaments, there’s no two ways about it. You cannot go for every pin because that’s the way you play and it being fun, as other players are better than that and you have to have course management.”
Hull is still only 27, and therefore has plenty of time to work on her flaws to achieve the success her talent should allow.
More from the 19th Hole
- The wild reason why Mark Wahlberg was initially denied entry to an Australian golf club
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Edoardo Molinari reveals the latest PGA Tour golfer to turn down ‘good offer’ from LIV Golf
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19th Hole
Former agent lifts lid on being fired by ‘zombie’ Tiger Woods
Discussing his new book “Rainmaker” with the Daily Mail, Tiger Woods’ former agent, Hughes Norton, recounted the events leading up to and after his split with the 15-time major champion.
Norton was abruptly fired by Woods in 1998 after his 1997 Masters win and monster deal with Nike.
In the book, Norton talks about the way Tiger views his relationships, calling him a “zombie.”
“The solace I can take, which doesn’t provide much, is this: He was an equal opportunity zombie with relationships, his swing coaches, his lawyer, the guy negotiated the IMG representation deal, with caddies, When it’s over, it’s over.”
Norton added:
“It is the way he terminates relationships with everyone. Whether it’s girlfriends, whether it’s his former golf coaches. It’s ironic, really. In a way he’s so good at confrontation on the golf course. If he’s playing you, he will beat your brains out every single time.
“But when it comes to confronting things like me and other people that are in his life, he has no social skills whatsoever. It’s maddening, actually.”
After he was fired by Woods, Norton was let go by IMG, which he believes was due to Woods’ influence.
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