It is time we adjust the rules of golf.
Over the weekend American golfer Lexi Thompson missed the first cut on Ladies Professional Golf Association major of the season after she was penalized four strokes.
Thompson was notified of the penalty as she was making her way to the 13th tee.
The penalty was assessed to Thompson 24 hours after the incident occurred after a fan watching on television notified officials during the final round on Sunday.
Thompson was penalized after officials watched replays, which showed Thompson mark her ball and then replaced the ball slightly out of position.
Due to the infraction Thompson was handed a two stroke penalty and was then subsequently handed an additional two stroke penalty for handing in a wrong scorecard since she handed it in Saturday, prior to knowing she was penalized.
The four-stroke penalty proved to be costly as it turned a three-stroke lead into a one stroke deficit.
Thompson was able to rebound to tie for the tournament lead but lost in a playoff, so it cannot be considered solely the fault of the penalty, but it certainly did not help.
Here is the problem with that.
How can we be letting fans watching on television make the rulings?
If the rules officials do not see the infraction we should be letting it go.
Imagine in the Stanley Cup playoffs a referee misses a penalty and a fan can call the National Hockey League head office and report the penalty.
It would be utter chaos.
The same thing applies to golf.
If we set a precedent where fans can make rule calls, but can also report them well after the fact, what is stopping some fan from looking at old footage and reporting it to the officials.
Some fan at home could then have the power to completely rewrite history.
Fans should not be allowed to report things at all.
Here is another problem with what happened.
How is it fair that Thompson be penalized for something that happened on television, when a large number of shots hit during a golf tournament are not televised?
There needs to be more consistency.
Despite having more technology today we need to revert back to when officials on the course had the final say. If they did not see an infraction then it goes uncalled, no replay, no fans input.
And if golf is going to move to more replay based decisions and fans’ input then it needs to be more equal.
All shots need to be taped and shown, not just some of them.
It is time golf looks at their rules and makes adjustments to make it even for everyone.
We cannot have another Lexi Thompson moment, there have been too many already.
