“Northwestern’s Sarah Cho and Kent State’s Kelly Nielsen, playing in the same group, both received a two-shot penalty Sunday at the NCAA Championship. Now, those infractions could be for any number of reasons – the Rules of Golf are thorough and can be complicated – but on this day these players were penalized two shots for … taking a cart ride to the bathroom?

That’s from Golf Week reporting on another example of just how dumb the rules of golf and local rules are when they lack common sense.
Golf Week called it “bizarre” however allow me to remind you, it’s nothing new.

Draconian rules
In Life’s Lessons Frae The Links in the chapter Draco – Know the rules, I wrote, “After 18 holes at glorious gorse-covered Gleneagles, Sophie Gustafson and Laura Davies…” and then proceeded to provide the details.
Therefore it came as no surprise to read about  the pee break penalty

Stupid rule
Bob W at Golf Magic dated 09/09/2001in reference to the above and relating to WPGA International Invitational Matchplay (September 7-9 2001) at the prestigious Gleneagles Hotel. Co-sponsored by Evian

Bob writes, “Isn't it about time the Evian Ladies Tour and the Women's PGA got real? To penalise Sophie Gustafson because her caddie wanted a toilet break and accepted a lift back to the first playoff hole on a buggy, is ridiculous. The poor guy was trying to save time by having her clubs transported back to the 18th tee. Surely this isn't within the spirit of the game to penalise the Swede.”

The facts
"The Evian Tour has a tournament rules sheet for each event, and clearly marked on each Tournament rules card, it states, "All players and their caddies must walk at all times in any stipulated round"
The playoff is still part of the stipulated round and as such, it is a breach of the rules, unfortunately for Ms Gustafson and her caddie Chuck Hoersch.”

The irony and ridiculous decision was that it was Chuck who needed a pee, Sophie simply remained seated… on the cart... and not on the toilet

Link to Golf Magic  and Golf Week

Quote of the Day
“Perhaps no sport has more rules than golf (the Rules Of Golf booklet is almost 200 pages). So it stands to reason that golf has the most dumb rules of any sport. And if you don’t know the rules, odds are you’re going to run into trouble.” – Matthew Cohen

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