Bizarre penalty ousts Dustin Johnson from PGA Championship playoff; Martin Kaymer beats Bubba Watson

August 15 -- Martin Kaymer beat Bubba Watson on the third playoff hole at the 2010 PGA Championship, but a bizarre rules violation that eliminated Dustin Johnson from contention stole the show at Whistling Straits.
Johnson grounded. Kaymer defeated Watson with a bogey-5 on the 18th, but it was Johnson’s infraction on the same hole prior to the two-man playoff that had lips flapping. Officials assessed a two-stroke penalty on Johnson for grounding his club in a bunker he did not recognize as a bunker and that thousands of spectators had trampled.
Johnson, who birdied the par-3 17th hole to take a one-shot lead at 12-under, lost his drive off the 18th tee way right and into the gallery. He set up to hit his next shot, which fell into the rough short of the green. A terrific pitch shot landed to about eight feet, but he picked a bad time to get the yips and left his par putt short.
A rules official conferred with Johnson immediately after the golfer left the 18th green to ask if he had grounded his club in the sand. For sure, Johnson, who suffered an infamous meltdown in the U.S. Open, had done so. What was uncertain was whether he was in a bunker, given that fans had tracked through the area all week.
No club-tossing. Unfortunately for Johnson, who never denied grounding his club and reacted to his fate with grace, the ruling stood after television replays attested to the foul. That meant Johnson scored a seven on 18 instead of a five, which eliminated him from the playoff.
The PGA of America (not the PGA Tour), which runs the tourney, had posted the ruling in the locker room and on a local-rules sheet prior to the event. The ruling made clear that even unraked bunkers outside the ropes, that “will likely include numerous footprints, heel prints and tire tracks...are part of the game and no free relief will be available from these conditions.”
Number one item. Mark Wilson, co-chair of the PGA of America rules committee told reporters after the contentious decision that the issue of bunkers (the Pete Dye-designed Whistling Straits boasts some 1,200 bunkers for no particular reason other than the visual spectacle) was “the number one item on our local rules sheet.”
“I know the rules.” Johnson was in disbelief. “Walking up and seeing my shot, it never once crossed my mind that I was in a sand trap,” he told CBS’ David Feherty. “"Obviously I know the rules of golf and I can't ground my club in a bunker....Maybe I should have looked to the rule sheet a little harder."
Johnson’s playing partner, Nick Watney, the 54-hole leader who had his own meltdown to deal with after carding a final-round 81, conceded that players pay little attention to rules sheets.
"We've played hundreds of tournaments,” Watney said. “We get a sheet every week. I feel for him. I've never seen fans in a bunker with a player. That was a little odd.
"I will say this. Dustin was adamant that he did ground his club. And it was on the sheet,” Watney added. “Man, that's a tough call, though. Guy's first major. Playoff. It's really unfortunate."
Finger-pointing. Whether it was Johnson’s or his caddie’s fault for not reading the rules sheet, the silly local rule that deemed even a patch of trampled earth a hazard, the rules official who opted not to get involved, the organizers who did not control the crowd, “Bunkergate” will likely go down as one of the biggest screw-ups in golf history.
Great finish. That’s a shame, since the “was-it-or-wasn’t-it” debate overshadowed a terrific finish to the 92nd PGA Championship. After Kaymer and Watson each sprayed his tee shot into the crowd on the right, big-hitting Bubba clubbed his approach into the creek that fronts the green.
With Watson having to hit his fourth shot after taking a penalty shot, Kaymer wisely laid up and then calmly knocked his third shot to within 15 feet of the pin. Watson hit his approach into the bunker behind the green. He nearly holed his fifth shot, which clanged off the pin and rolled some five feet away, but his double-bogey putt was one shot too many.