Last week there was a funeral in Waycross, GA. Forty year old former tour pro Taylor Smith passed away from as of yet unkown causes. Who was Taylor Smith? You’ll remember when you read Bill Field’s column in the upcoming issue of Golf World.
In Tiger’s rookie season he was tied for the lead at the Disney World tour event with Smith. On the 63rd hole, Lennie Clements reported to a rules official that the grip on Smith’s long putter was illegal. The fact the whole freaking putter should be illegal is another subject. Anyway, Taylor birdied 18 to force a playoff with Tiger…but was disqualified for the putter grip. After that day in Rattown, he never won an event, got hooked on painkillers, drank too much, and just died.
Not blaming Lennie Clements here although you have to wonder how he took the news.
I have a weird affection for the rules. I’ve been to USGA rules seminars, one of them 3 days. The Rules are fascinating to me and I’m not a little bit embarrassed about it.
But I’m positive the rules need to be applied fairly…not uniformly or consistently…but fairly.
Roberto DiVicenzo could have won the Masters but didn’t because he signed a wrong scorecard. He wasn’t keeping score (his fellow competitor was), the score he signed for wasn’t lower than the score he made…it was higher…yet the rules must be applied. He was Dairy Queened and Bob Goalby got fitted for a 44 long, green. Read it in his own words here.
As unfair as it was to the Argentine, it was equally unfair to Goalby and to golf itself. Forty years distant Goalby has the knowledge he didn’t exactly win The Masters but also a lot of golf fans think he lost to DiVicenzo…not true, they had the same exact score….but no playoff to see who would have won…that’s not fair.
Let the players decide who wins, who loses, and who ties…not a ridiculous rule. Good people who run tournaments can assess the situation and make the fair decision. Here’s another example from just this week…stupid!
If you’re a regular visitor to Best In Golf you may notice the lack of any photo in this post. The reason is simple…when you Google Taylor Smith you get a principal in Kentucky and a Pastor in
Indiana…no golfer from Georgia.
Wonder if he had a rounder grip that day in 1996 if that would be the case.
