The Plight of the Bumblebee

The shalls and shall nots of golf are pretty explicit. In the United States Golfers Association rule book there are 34 definitions, 41 rules with 120 sections and 156 subsections; for professional tournament play the P.G.A. makes six exceptions of its own. These cover everything that can happen to a golfer from clobbering a spectator with a ball (no penalty) to brushing away worm droppings while in a hazard (two strokes). But nowhere, as Arnold Palmer discovered in last week's $35,000 Phoenix Open, do the rules say anything about bumblebees.

Buzz Off. There was Arnie on the sixth green in the final round with an easy 3-ft. putt. Ever so carefully, he addressed the ball, mindful of the fact that as the round began, South Africa's Gary Player was only a stroke behind. Enter the bee--to light smack on Arnie's ball. He frowned, stepped back, muttered for the critter to buzz off. Eventually, the message got through. But as the bee departed, Palmer, standing five feet away, saw the ball move--maybe the width of a blade of grass. Oh Lord! Three weeks before, Palmer had been disqualified in the Bing Crosby National for breaking a rule. He huddled with officials. If he was somehow responsible for the ball moving, it would cost him one stroke; if not, there would be no penalty.

Rule 27, subsection 1-a seemed clear enough--no penalty if "any outside agency" moved the ball. The bee was obviously an outside agent. But subsection 1-d says that a ball that moves accidentally after it is addressed costs the player a stroke. Which one applied? Tournament Supervisor Joe Black said the first rule did, but he put in a call to U.S.G.A. Executive Director Joseph Dey in New York to be sure. Dey was not in, so Palmer played through. He coolly carded a two-under-par 70 for the round. Twenty minutes after Palmer finished. Black's rule was affirmed from New York.

No penalty, and Palmer wound up with a 15-under-par 273 to win the $5,300 first-prize money, beating Gary Player, who was having his own disconcerting experience with the rules.

No Complaint. Needing a birdie four to tie Palmer on the 18th and final hole. Player seemed to have it made. His putt was an easy four-footer. But his playing partner, Don January, had left a putt teetering precariously on the lip of the cup, and January said that he could see the ball moving. So he waited--for seven interminable minutes. Player was so unnerved that he blew his own 4-ft. putt, the match and a crack at the $5,300. "That putt wasn't going to drop--ever." he groused. "January had no right to wait so long."

Did he or didn't he? Rule 25, section 1 firmly states that a player shall not hit a moving ball; January insisted that his was. But Rule 35, subsection 1-h, permits only a "momentary delay" to see whether the putt will drop or not. Player might have forced a ruling by complaining to the officials, but since he did not, January got away with it.

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