Q: At the U.S. Bank Championship a player was allowed to remove a rock from a sand bunker before hitting his ball? Is there a specific rule for an instance like this?
— Sharryn Webinger, Billings, Mont.

A: Local rules, Sharryn. U.S. Golf Association rules prohibit removing debris from bunkers, the Royal & Ancient isn’t so against it, but the PGA Tour and European PGA Tour can always adopt local rules, if there are extenuating circumstances — such as weather or course conditions — that warrant it.

Q: What do you make of everything surrounding Michelle Wie? She finally gets near the top of a leaderboard and then forgets to sign a scorecard. And now she’s going to face the men again. What gives?
— Anonymous

A: It’s uncanny, but the young lady has a knack for attracting controversy. The failure to sign the scorecard was all her fault; no question about that. But the LPGA Tour needs to adopt a better system for scorekeeping so that volunteers aren’t the people handling the scoring trailer duties. That’s nonsense — and people wonder why as many as six players have been DQ'd this year. Of course, any sympathy that Wie may have picked up thanks to the signature snafu was gone in the time it took her to announce that she would play in the PGA Tour’s scheduled event in Reno. Ludicrous, is what it was, and let’s point fingers where they belong — at her handlers for steering her into such a predicament that didn’t even have the support of her acclaimed instructor, Davie Leadbetter. Wie shot a second-round 80, missed the cut for an eighth straight time against the men, and at 18 she’s mature enough to understand that she’s got some serious career decisions to make — and none of them involve playing in PGA Tour events.

Q: Do you think any pro golfers will participate in the $200,000 buy-in World Series of Golf event planned for next year?
— Elizabeth, Seattle

A: John Daly comes to mind. No doubt there’ll be others. Heck, it beats missing cuts and chasing the minitours. That reminds me, after his Ryder Cup captaincy, one would think Paul Azinger would be another who would like to whet his appetite for golf and gambling.

Q: Jim, with July’s British Open played under such terrible weather conditions, don’t you think the USGA should fire back at the Europeans and play a U.S. Open in the sweltering heat of Arizona?
— Larry Simon, Scottsdale, Ariz.

A: No, because all they have to do is what they always do — grow grass and slap on the label, U.S. Open. Check it out, a European hasn’t won the thing since Tony Jacklin in 1970, so why take the chance that they could handle the Arizona heat? Better to stick with a formula that works. As for the weather woes that plague the British Open, no worries there, either. An American has won six of the last 10 and 11 of the last 20. We handle their weather better than they handle our grass. Besides, you couldn’t have a U.S. Open in Arizona in the summer, because you need volunteers and no one leaves their air conditioned-homes June through August.

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