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Originally Posted by valo403
According to everything that was said during the broadcast yesterday as well as the analysis today the on-course officials can only advise on the rules when requested, they cannot let the players know of a potential issue without a request.
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From reading an ESPN article, that contains an interview with the PGA rules official that was with Johnson's group, it seems like he thought Johnson knew it was a bunker and therefore didn't say anything. He said:
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You don't remind a player on every hole that you can't ground your club.
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The rules official goes on to say that all Johnson had to do was ask and he would have warned him that it was a bunker and that he can't ground his club. He wasn't going to go over and remind Johnson of something the rules official thought he already knew.
I take this to mean that the Rules official can advise the players of the rules, but choose not to because it would be annoying to the player if he already knew.
http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/gol...ory?id=5468051
According to the interview with Mark Wilson, co-chairman of the PGA rules committee, the rules official walking with Johnson could have stepped in and said something before Johnson grounded his club.
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Q. And he's not going to jump in and offer that advice unless asked?
MARK WILSON: David certainly would have jumped in, under the circumstances with the many people over there, it was hard. Obviously, for the player himself to get there, let alone for the walking official. If the walking official can prevent a breach of the rules, he certainly will, but under the circumstances it was hard enough to get the player over there and again if it's that hard to get the player over there, all the rules official is going to be doing is hovering over the player and they're really not trying to encourage that, we're not trying to tell the players that's, hey, you've been assigned a walking official because we're going to scrutinize every rule.
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