A back-burner topic had the heat turned up this week as 2016 PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker waded into the controversial waters that surround the practice of “backstopping.”
Backstopping is the act of players intentionally not marking their balls on the green while other playing competitors approach the surface, offering their competitors an opportunity to stop their ball quickly.
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The debate has been simmering for quite some time and reared its head most notably during this season’s Safeway Open, so when former European and Australian Tour player Michael Clayton posted a video of what appeared to be a clear instance of backstopping during the FedEx St. Jude Classic calling it “a joke,” Walker weighed in.
Ben An and John Huh helping each other out here. What a joke. pic.twitter.com/k9chMb8FVD
— Michael Clayton (@MichaelClayto15) June 8, 2018
Usually a guy will ask if he would like to mark it. If you don’t like a guy you will mark anyway. If you like the guy you might leave it to help on a shot. Some guys don’t want to give help at all and rush to mark their ball. To each his own.
— Jimmy Walker (@JimmyWalkerPGA) June 9, 2018
So you decide who is worthy of your help and who isn’t?
— Michael Clayton (@MichaelClayto15) June 9, 2018
I try to help everyone. Especially if they got a bad break or got short sided. I’ve asked “do you want me to leave the ball?”
— Jimmy Walker (@JimmyWalkerPGA) June 9, 2018
And if the other guy says “yes” that’s a breach of Rule 22 and you’re both DQd.
— Michael Clayton (@MichaelClayto15) June 9, 2018
Walker, who later admitted he didn’t know who Clayton was, called out the former pro.
Really….? Glad we have rules guys like you around. Do you have the call in hotline number? What is it? Golf is hard dude. Try it out.
— Jimmy Walker (@JimmyWalkerPGA) June 9, 2018
I did try it. I played European and Australian tour for 20 years. I well know it’s hard.
— Michael Clayton (@MichaelClayto15) June 9, 2018
Good for you. So you were the guy who ran to mark a ball before the other guy went? Seen that a lot too.
— Jimmy Walker (@JimmyWalkerPGA) June 9, 2018
Everyone did it and many times I asked a player to make a ball that may have advantaged me. Guess I was silly right? Seve,Faldo and all the rest marked because they understood the concept of a responsibility to the rest of the field.
It’s this generation that has normalised it.— Michael Clayton (@MichaelClayto15) June 9, 2018
The rule in question is Rule 22-1, Ball Assisting or Interfering with Play, which states in part, “In stroke play, if the Committee determines that competitors have agreed not to lift a ball that might assist any competitor, they are disqualified.”
The burden of proof here is difficult, as Golf Channel analyst Jim Gallagher, Jr. argued in the video above.
“I’ve talked to a lot of the PGA Tour (rules) officials and they’re aware of it, but you just have to prove that’s what they’re doing,” Gallagher, Jr. said. “It’s hard to prove that.”
Walker was able to add more context to his comments on Sunday at Shinnecock Hills.
Where do you stand on the backstopping debate as a whole and Walker’s stance in particular? Let us know in the comments below.
