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No one more so than Brian Gay, a seven-year veteran who has yet to win on the PGA Tour. He came close in 2000 when the infamous rules infraction occurred at the Honda Classic. One shot behind Dudley Hart, who was sitting in the clubhouse, Gay hit a 30-foot birdie putt at the 71st hole that hung on the lip, agonizingly. Then a PGA Tour sophomore, Gay walked to the ball, peered at it from a few yards away, then moved slowly toward it. Before he got there to tap-in, the ball fell, the crowd roared, and Gay figured he was tied for the lead.
Wrong.
Rule 16-2, which penalizes a player for waiting more than 10 seconds to tap in a putt hanging on the lip, was enforced. NBC officials used replay footage provided by a blimp to determine that Gay had waited 13 seconds.
''It's a gray area," conceded Gay, who was hit with a one-shot penalty and eventually settled into a tie for fourth, two shots behind Hart. It's a painful memory and a ruling he doesn't agree with, yet it's not what he'd like to change on his one day of power. Instead, he wants relief when his ball rolls into a divot hole that's been filled with a mixture of sand, seed, and fertilizer.
''If there's sand, then it's ground under repair," said Gay. ''We should get a drop."
This was a pet peeve of the late Payne Stewart, who made an issue of it during the 1998 US Open at the Olympic Club. Like Gay and many others, Stewart believed then (though he reportedly changed his mind a few months later) that it represented an effort to repair damage and was thus ground under repair. Gay would not be alone in making this change.
''Either don't put sand in [divot holes] or give us relief," said 17-year veteran and two-time winner Tommy Armour 3d. ''I'd rather hit out of a clean divot [hole]."
Wrong.
Rule 16-2, which penalizes a player for waiting more than 10 seconds to tap in a putt hanging on the lip, was enforced. NBC officials used replay footage provided by a blimp to determine that Gay had waited 13 seconds.
''It's a gray area," conceded Gay, who was hit with a one-shot penalty and eventually settled into a tie for fourth, two shots behind Hart. It's a painful memory and a ruling he doesn't agree with, yet it's not what he'd like to change on his one day of power. Instead, he wants relief when his ball rolls into a divot hole that's been filled with a mixture of sand, seed, and fertilizer.
''If there's sand, then it's ground under repair," said Gay. ''We should get a drop."
This was a pet peeve of the late Payne Stewart, who made an issue of it during the 1998 US Open at the Olympic Club. Like Gay and many others, Stewart believed then (though he reportedly changed his mind a few months later) that it represented an effort to repair damage and was thus ground under repair. Gay would not be alone in making this change.
''Either don't put sand in [divot holes] or give us relief," said 17-year veteran and two-time winner Tommy Armour 3d. ''I'd rather hit out of a clean divot [hole]."
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