UNWILLING TO ENDURE the blizzard of commercials found during the Ravens-Colts football game, my buddies and I switched over to the wind-walloped PGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions.
Those with RedZone, the proprietary NFL channel that switches to show every scoring play of every game, know how difficult a transition it is to go from a commercial-free zone to wave after wave of ads.
I knew that Friday and Saturday’s rounds had been scratched due to high winds and realized things would be far from perfect.
What I didn’t know and subsequently researched was a rule change made in relation to wind (and an embrace of common sense).
Play lasted for 71 minutes in total on Sunday before strong winds again pushed the opening round to the following day.
A Monday finish? How about what is likely the first Monday start in PGA history?
As soon as Ravens-Colts went to an ad, we saw Ian Poulter’s hat blow off and become a souvenir as he attempted to hit an approach shot.
He was about 180 yards out, and wind was buffeting Poulter so badly he would approach, get slammed by wind and back off, approach, get slammed and so on.
We were captivated by this for almost an entire three-minute break and never even saw him take his shot.
During other gaps in football, we saw players overcome the conditions and hit greens in regulation only to see their hard work blown off the dance floor by the cruelest of zephyrs.
Instead of putting for birdie, golfers were facing uphill chips into the wind to try for up-and-down pars.
In double-checking that players must indeed play these wind-driven shots wherever they end up, I discovered a related, common-sense rule change.
In a rule that went into effect a year ago, players are no longer penalized if wind causes their ball to move after they have addressed it.
This change came about after Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Webb Simpson were given one-stroke penalties during 2011 tournaments.
“Every time the wind blows I am worried that my ball is going to move and I am worried about grounding my putter, distracting me from trying to hole my putt,” Harrington said in a statement issued by the USGA.
“Players won’t be getting penalized or disqualified unfairly. It is definitely giving us players a little bit of a break.”
Kudos to the USGA and the R&A for understanding force majeure events outside our control can happen on the golf course and deciding to rectify a bad rule with some common sense.
If you need a rule clarified ask the USGA by sending an email to rules@usga.org or phone 908-234-2300, ext. 1387.
They will answer, even if the question concerns a $2 Nassau bet.
Three-player scramble
SkyRidge Golf Course will host a three-person Midwinter Scramble event Saturday.
Players can check out the golf course’s new clubhouse, which I wrote about in last week’s column (tinyurl.com/SkyRidgeClubhouse).
Three drives must be used by each player during the round.
Shotgun start is 9:30 a.m. (barring frost) and cost is $90 per team with an optional $60-per-team ($20 per player) honey pot.
Lunch will be served following play.
Power carts are $15 per seat and a small amount of heaters are $10.
Phone SkyRidge for more information at 360-683-3673.
Sixkiller Super Bowl
Save Super Bowl Sunday morning for a golf outing at Cedars at Dungeness in Sequim with University of Washington football Hall of Famer Sonny Sixkiller.
The Sonny Sixkiller Super Bowl Scramble will tee off at 9:06 a.m. (a nod to the No. 6 Sixkiller wore for the Huskies) on Sunday, Feb. 3.
A four-person scramble, the event is limited to 18 teams.
Why so few teams? It’s set up so Sixkiller can join each group for one hole and play as a fivesome.
Entry fee is $76 per player with $1,006 available in competition prizes, based on a full field of 18 teams.
If every member of a foursome wears football jerseys that foursome will have two strokes deducted off their score.
And don’t worry, the tourney will wrap well before Super Bowl kickoff at 3:30 p.m.
Let’s all hope Seattle makes it to the big game. Go Seahawks!
Arctic Open signups
A format change has been made for Port Townsend Golf Course’s 27th annual Arctic Open golf tournament set for Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 9-10.
Port Townsend’s “Major” tourney is popular with course regulars and golfers around the North Olympic Peninsula.
This year, the format will be a two-person scramble for 18 holes followed by 18 holes of two-person best ball.
Entry fee is $200 per team and includes a Friday practice round, play on Saturday and Sunday with lunch both days.
Players will also compete for hole-in-one and KP prizes.
Golfers are encouraged to bring their all-weather gear and be ready to play since this tourney goes on regardless of snow, sleet, rain, freezing temps or wind.
Stop by the Port Townsend course or phone the pro shop at 360-385-4547.
Maybe those PGA Tour pros could take a lesson from Arctic Open participants and play through the conditions?
Or maybe not. Here I am calling out golf pros while I can’t even make it through a TV commercial.
Some tough guy I am.
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-417-3527 or pdngolf@gmail.com.