U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 1997

Trey Holland

TREY HOLLAND: Hello.

TREY HOLLAND: On the 16th green this afternoon, Mr. Wargo missed a short putt. He then reached across the hole in attempt to hole the putt, and his putter hit the ground before it made contact with the ball. The ball was subsequently holed. According to the rules official who was with the group, the player, Mr. Wargo, as he holed the putt, his fellow competitor kind of looked back at the rules official, kind of in a means of saying, you know, what's happening here? This doesn't look quite right. The official was standing in such a position that was difficult for him to be able to say with certainty what happened. So, the official asked Mr. Wargo's fellow competitor, asked him what he had made on the hole. He did not answer him, and so the official apparently asked him as they were leaving the 17th tee, "What happened back there on the 16th green?" Mr. Wargo told him what happened, and the official said, "Well, we may want to look at this on tape to make sure that everybody is okay." The incident was reviewed on tape. We went to the NBC trailer and looked at it, and it was our opinion after looking at the tape that Mr. Wargo had made a stroke at the ball and then subsequently holed it with a second stroke, and instead of making 5 on the hole, he had made 6.

TREY HOLLAND: The walking official with the group was Reed Mackenzie. He was assisted by Gerald Stahl.

TREY HOLLAND: Well, I think that's obviously the issue here. No, I would not say it's black and white. There's certainly some degree of judgment involved here. And, from our perspective, I think it was a difficult call to make and especially in view of Mr. Wargo's explanation of what he felt he was doing. But, as I say, after reviewing the tape, we felt that he had, indeed, made a stroke.

TREY HOLLAND: He still feels that what he explained he was doing, he had, in fact, done. And I can't answer your question as to whether or not he feels after looking at the tape that it was a stroke. I don't know the answer to that. But he sticks by his story. He did not mean to hit the ball.

TREY HOLLAND: It doesn't violate a rule number. It just violates the definition of a stroke, which is the forward movement of the club with the intent of fairly striking the ball, and he does admit that he did intend to hit the ball, and once the club head had started forward, he then decided not to hit it, and that's why he decided to hit the ground with the club head to stop that. And then he stroked the ball into the hole subsequently.

TREY HOLLAND: That's right. Again, it's a judgment call. We have some of those in other areas of the rules of golf where it's a player who may be building a stance or who's not taking their stance fairly. And you have to use some judgment when has the player crossed the line as to what he's allowed to do or not allowed to do. So there's some judgment here.

TREY HOLLAND: No, sir. There was no penalty stroke here. It was just the initial stroke counted, as did his subsequent stroke. So he made 6 instead of 5.

TREY HOLLAND: Well, if we did not have tape to look at, we would have to interview really anybody that we could. We'd interview the players and the caddies and the officials, and if there were spectators there who had a clear view and felt they had some input into the situation, we would listen to what they had to say and then we'd reach a decision.