ANA Inspiration was the first of the 5 LPGA Majors and like several of the Men’s events last year, the officials blew it. So Yeon Ryu won the event because a viewer called in on Sunday saying Lexi Thompson missed place a ball maker thus putting the ball down in the wrong spot. The LPGA officials reviewed the video and then assessed Thompson a 2 stroke penalty. On top of that, she was the assessed another 2 stroke penalty for signing a wrong score card on Saturday.
I’m not going to delve into to the problems that resulted. All I’m going to say is viewers are not officials and call in “perceived” violations should not be taken. This is a game where the players police themselves and there are officials with each group. Not every player is video taped with every stroke. Until that is done, stop taking calls. Enough said.
Russell Henley came from 4 strokes off the lead to post a 10 birdie 65 to win the Shell Houston Open and earn the last spot in this week’s Masters.
Miguel Angel Jimenez successfully defending his title at the Mississippi Gulf Championship with a first hole playoff win over Gene Sauer.