Larry Dierker thinks that some of baseball’s rules are absurd, but even the most arcane of baseball’s rules don’t hold a candle to several of golf’s rules. This James Achenbach/Golf Week column describes the byzantine manner in which U.S. Golf Association officials penalized 17-year old Esther Choe of the Scottsdale, Arizona in her recent third-round match during the U.S. Women’s Amateur over — you guessed it — a divot:
After winning her first two matches over the Witch Hollow course at Pumpkin Ridge, Choe was bidding for a third-round victory and a spot in the quarterfinal round. Suddenly and decisively, she was derailed by a divot.