Michelle, Ma Belle (What a difference twelve inches can make -- say, $53,000!)

The American Prowler ^ | 10/19/2005 | Reid Collins

[nickcarraway]

Never mind what Karl Rove said to "Scooter" Libby that may have been heard by Judith Miller who would do 80 days in jail for something Bob Novak would put in print with impunity. And who spells Flame with a "P," anyway? The name that is important here is none of the above. It is Michelle Wie. Yes, the 16-year-old (barely) golfer whose professional debut was marked, and marred, by one of those lessons in life that must be attended by each and every one of us before this mortal coil is shuffled. But such an early shuffle!

Wie had finished a respectable fourth in a field of the Samsung World Championship led by the indomitable Annika Sorenstam. For this Wie was to have received $53,000 and change and the plaudits of a sports world that had wondered at her abilities for months leading up to her baptism among the ladies who play for pay. But no. Wie had not reckoned on the intervention of one of those people who do not play but who make a living watching others who can, a professional voyeur. One George Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, thought he had seen a miscue of Wie's on the day before the tournament ended. Wie was to be undone.

Bamberger, gifted with not only a writing ability but also the global positioning capacity of a satellite, summoned Robert O. Smith, the LPGA Tour rules official, and they trouped back out to the seventh green Sunday evening to reconstruct a drop from an unplayable lie Wie had made on Saturday. After two trips to the green and re-enactments by Wie and her caddy, the lass was disqualified. It was determined that the drop from which she played her ball was closer to the hole than the point from where she had lifted and placed it. A rules violation and disqualification.

The eagle-eyed Bamberger had been some 15 yards away on the fateful day. After Wie had holed out, he stayed behind and paced off the distances, from where the ball first landed and from where the drop was made. He contacted the tour rules guy, Smith, the next day, saying he'd become more uncomfortable the more he thought about it, and rules officials said Wie had in fact dropped the ball about 12 inches nearer the hole, still 45 yards away. Wie says if it was truly closer it may have been three inches nearer.

The lessons learned? Always get a tour official to oversee a drop, and arbitrate an unplayable lie. Your caddy won't do; he is on your side. The gallery is no help, either.

And remember that for each of us, someday, somewhere, there waits a Bamberger.

Reid Collins is a former CBS and CNN news correspondent.

[Al Simmons]

OK.

I know nothing about golf.

Nothing.

The only birdie I know has two wings and eats worms.

And the eagle is our national symbol.

Bogie was a B & W movie star.

But I do know one thing.

This one thing.

100%, absolutely, no doubt about it.

This Bamberger guy....

Is a GD, MF A**hole.

No doubt about it.

A mathematical certainty.

A big, fat, MF A88hole.

I'm out.

[beyond the sea]

I know the rules of golf are a great deal of what makes the game so great and honorable, but Bamberger is a jerk for doing this to Wie in her first tourney as a pro.

She was very gracious and understanding afterwards.

Here's wishing Bamberger sticks to writing, not being a severe flaming *sshole.

[dangus]

I figure my twelve inches could make me at least $53,000, but I would never give it a way for money.

What? I'm talking about my LP collection! What did you think I was talking about, you sicko?

[etcetera]

Michelle Wie is revered here in Hawaii. If Bamberger comes to Hawaii, he should do so incognito. This is not a threat. Just a word to the wise.

[Tall_Texan]

I hope she learned another lesson. Don't EVER think those miserable pricks (and prickettes) in the media are your friends.

[nickcarraway]

That's golf for you.

[nickcarraway]

Personally, I don't like golf, but those are the rules. Even if your a star, you should have the same accountability as everyone else.

[notfornothing]

Rack him!!

[Al Simmons]

OK.

Someone explain this to me 'cause I must be STUPID, I just don't get it;

I run out on the field to talk to the referee, I get decked by some 300 pound monster; then I get arrested and thrown out;

I run out onto the diamond to talk to an umpire, I get tackled, arrested, and charged with trespass;

I slide out onto the ice to talk to a referee, slip, break my teeth, then get arrested;

I go to a golf game, rat out a player for dropping her ball 12 inches closer to the hole (but still half a county away), and SHE gets disqualified and loses her 'purse'?

Excuse me, but I just have to say this:

WWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT?

[beyond the sea]

One George Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, thought he had seen a miscue of Wie's on the day before the tournament ended.

By the way..........

Michael Bamberger is a Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated, which he joined in September 1995. Previously he worked for nine years as a general assignment reporter and sportswriter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and before that wrote for the (Martha's) Vineyard Gazette.

George was a pitching coach for the Orioles.

[Txshep]

...Bamberger, gifted with not only a writing ability but also the global positioning capacity of a satellite ...

So many were wishing the young lady well, a phenom for sure, but it is un seemingly odd that ONE "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED" bastard/reporter/spectator has it in for Wie. (24 hours after the fact?)

Here come the proper dutiful questions about Bamberger ... Why and what were his intentions? Xenophobic? Racial, from an Aryan look on Asians? Aged-based? Just to kick a puppy and see if the accused puppy pees on the media rug? This infantile Bamberger is a disgusting individual.

Does this smart-assed Bamberger follow Bill Clinton around and point out his amateur and bogus lies (pun intended)? No, he picks on an entry level LPGA golfer from Hawaii who could probably outshine his rubber-ass 370 days out of the year in many sports.

I'd bet Bamberger uses a magnification glass for the S.I. Swimsuit edition with one hand .... Excuse me, I have to go take a "Bamberger", or a "liberal", if you will ...

[chuckles]

I guess Bamberger never followed Klintoon around the links?

[Txshep]

Dittos

[Al Simmons]

*LOL*

As Cartman would say to Mr. Bamberger:

"Shut your *****ing mouth you *****ing *OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

[doug from upland]

Where is Hillary's Bamberger?

[Tall_Texan]

She didn't get disqualified for making a closer shot. She got disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. That's because at the time she signed it, it was correct. But after Bamberger got the officials back out there after her round was over, they declared the error which is a two-stroke penalty.

Imagine if football games or baseball games were changed long after play was over. "I'm sorry, Mr. Torre, but we've now decided the ball was foul. Your team doesn't get the double so you've lost instead of won. Sorry."

If they are going to punish a golfer, it should be before the round is over. That part of the rules is what really sucks.

[beyond the sea]

Wie

http://wieblog.com/archives/michael-bamberger-a-name-youll-remember-39

Michael Bamberger, A Name You’ll Remember

So it wasn’t a home viewer in this case.

The updated Associated Press wire states that it was Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Bamberger who informed tour officials about Michelle’s Saturday round drop. Johnston was bothered that Bamberger, who was at the seventh green when Wie took the drop, waited a day before raising it with tour officials. Had she been notified Saturday before signing her card, she would not have been disqualified.

Bamberger said he paced it off after Wie, playing in the final group Saturday, finished the hole.

“I did it in crude way — ‘Let’s see what she has to say.’ I was hopeful she could convince me,” in the Saturday interview, Bamberger said. “I thought about it more and was just uncomfortable that I knew something. Integrity is at the heart of the game. I don’t think she cheated. I think she was just hasty.”

Asked why he didn’t bring it up before the third round ended, Bamberger said, “That didn’t occur to me. I was still in my reporter’s mode. I wanted to talk to her first.”

Now there’s the ethical dilemma for you: Do you withhold information from your interviewee to get your story knowing that doing so could potentially disqualify your interviewee?

Wie accepted the decision: Rules are rules. She’s a class act.

[beyond the sea]

If they are going to punish a golfer, it should be before the round is over. That part of the rules is what really sucks.

.............. better...... at least before they sign their scorecard that particular day..

[Barney59]

I was intrigued to see the informant was Bamberger... I met him a number of years back, at a golf writers conference.

He's the author of an excellent narrative on golf, "To the Linksland"

http://www.caddybytes.com/To_The_Linksland.htm

There's a great chapter on his experience with John Stark, the former pro at Crieff GC in Scotland.

But to have waited a full day, or more, to report Wie's purported infraction was unfair at the least. He could have noted this to an official on Saturday and she wouldn't have been DQ'd...