A rookie's growing pains

TUCSON, Ariz. -- LPGA rookie Catherine Cartwright turned 19 on Sunday. But after what happened to her in the two-spot qualifier for the Welch's/Circle K Championship last Monday, she probably feels much older.

Cartwright literally came within inches of qualifying for the event, but she suffered a complicated two-shot penalty and was eliminated in a four-way playoff for the tournament's two available openings.

THE SHAG BAG After knocking on the door most of last year, Laura Diaz finally broke through to capture her first LPGA win on Sunday. "I think that as much as it's been talked about -- all of my seconds, no victories yet, the question When are you going to get a victory? -- I got a victory. The question is over," Diaz said. ... Juli Inkster, who finished second, spent the winter guiding her daughters' youth basketball team in the Bay Area (the squad finished with a 5-5 record). "We were short but scrappy," Inkster said. ... Pat Hurst (85), Nancy Scranton (83), Laura Davies (81) and Denise Killeen (87) all posted rounds at Moon Valley the week before in Phoenix that they would like to forget, shooting a combined 47-over par. Thanks to Randolph North Golf Club, those 80s quickly were out of mind. Hurst fired a 65, Davies a 66, Scranton a 65 and Killeen a 66 at the Welch's/Circle K -- a combined 26 under. That's a swing of 73 shots. ... Mi Hyun Kim finally has a swing that matches her stature. After unfolding the tour's longest backswing -- one that looked as if it would severely bruise her left shoulder -- for years, the 1999 LPGA Rookie of the Year now owns one that is closer to text book. "I know they used to call me John Daly of the ladies' tour, " Kim said. "But that is how I learned to play." Even though she won four times over the last three years, Kim asked coach Phil Reissen in January to fix her swing to help her prevent injury. "It took too much energy to swing like that," Kim said. "By the end of last year, I was exhausted so I thought shortening my swing would help my endurance." ... Liselotte Neumann hadn't heard the rumors that she is the leading candidate to be the European Solheim Cup captain in 2003, but she admitted she is looking forward to being part of the Cup in her home country of Sweden. "To be honest, I'm thinking about playing in it, not coaching," Neumann said. ... Ty Votaw addressed the tour caddies Tuesday night. During a speech to 87 bagtoters which focused on the tour's five-year marketing strategy Fans First, the commissioner got a few laughs with a comment about the recent Playboy.com poll. "I did say less is more, but I didn't think anyone was going to take me literally," Votaw said, referring instead to the tour's shortened playing schedule. ... According to her agent, Jill McGill has received a contract offer from the men's magazine and is still mulling over her decision. ... Hillary Homeyer may not have qualified on Monday with her 70, but she did finish up her master's degree from Stanford. On Tuesday, she received the final exam for her sociology degree via fax. She had three hours to take it and send it back to her instructor.

Cartwright, a nonexempt rookie on tour, was ecstatic after thinking she had fired a 5-under 67 -- the low score of the day -- at Randolph North Golf Course. Then she learned that a seemingly innocent drop she had taken on the 14th hole of regulation was deemed improper. She had to settle for a 69, which dropped her into a tie with Stephanie Keever, Jane Egan and Amy Read.

The ruling in question occurred after Cartwright's errant tee shot nestled under the wheel of a golf cart that was attached to an electronic scoreboard. After consulting with her playing partners, Cartwright proceeded to take a drop for an obstruction -- complete relief and one-club length. But according to the appendix of the Rules of Golf, the cart was deemed a "temporary immovable obstruction" because it was used to power the scoreboard. Doug Brecht, a LPGA rules official, explained that because the ball was under or in front of the interference, Cartwright should have taken two club lengths from the nearest outside edge of the temporary immovable obstruction.

"She was five inches from making a legal drop," said Brecht, who took Cartwright back out to the hole to reenact the drop. "Unfortunately, she had to learn this rule the hard way. You hate to see something like this happen."

So instead of making a bogey on the par-4, Cartwright had to sign for a triple-bogey 7.

In the playoff, Cartwright pushed her tee shot on the first hole -- No. 10 -- right into the rough and under a tree. From there, she pitched short of the green and then failed to get up and down for bogey. The five didn't matter, though, since Keever and Read both birdied the hole.

"It sucks big time," said Cartwright, wiping tears from her eyes. "I played some awesome golf and right now I think that is the stupidest rule in the world."

While making the ruling, Brecht gave Cartwright every benefit of the doubt, even asking her if she had used her putter for the club length, which would have made her drop legal. Sergio García took advantage of this technicality last year, but Cartwright couldn't admit to doing so.

"She understood the ruling and I tried to give her as much leeway as I possibly could, but she just wanted to make sure she did the right thing," Brecht said. "She just wanted to be honest."

"I have no one to blame but myself," said Cartwright, who missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of regulation that would have made all of this a moot point. "I could have easily taken out the rule book and read what the proper drop was for a temporary immovable instruction."

But that may not have been the case.

On Tuesday morning, Cartwright's drop and eventual playoff loss was the talk of the locker room. On the driving range, players were discussing the turn of events and wondering if they would have done the same thing in a similar situation. The consensus was that was most of them would have.

Two players -- Nancy Harvey and Diana D'Alessio -- even pulled out the Rules of Golf and started reading the specific rule. They both said that after reading the explanation they still would have taken the exact drop Cartwright took. After looking at it myself, I also felt that relief and one club length was the proper drop.

Brecht later showed me what was causing all of the confusion. "You're not reading the entire rule," he said. Down the page, in Part C of the definition, was the statement about interference. When there is interference, you automatically take two club lengths.

While she became the talk of the tour, Cartwright didn't hear a word. She took her lumps and jumped on a plane Tuesday morning for Florida to play in the season opener on the Futures Tour. She missed the cut in Lakeland, but that couldn't have been as painful, or as educational, as last Monday's misfortunes.

Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, is a longtime caddie on the LPGA Tour. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

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