The Rules for Mercy
Those who follow women’s professional golf (and there’s bound to be one of you out there somewhere) are no doubt already acquainted with events regarding Lexi Thompson earlier this month. She was two strokes up on the 12th hole of the final round at the ANA Inspiration tournament, which is a “major” for the ladies. A rules official approached her and said she had incorrectly replaced her ball on the 17th hole the day before. She placed her marker. She picked up the ball. She placed it about an inch away from its previous location. That’s a two stroke penalty. And it meant she signed an incorrect scorecard. That’s another two strokes. Suddenly she was two strokes behind, not two ahead.