This NCAA golfer had to jump into water to get his ball because of another weird, stupid rule

For anyone unfamiliar, team golf is perhaps the sport’s most exhilarating format. No, no — we’re not talking Ryder Cup standard best ball & alternate shot. The wild & stupid world of college golf, where five players play for the best four scores over three to four rounds, produces wild 15-shot swings and absurd scenarios. The five-player, one-hole playoff often found in the college game is some of the best entertainment the sport can offer. As the PGA Tour begins to push the envelope on new formats and unique events, they needn’t look further than the college game for some Good and Cool ideas.

[Extremely Stephen A. Smith voice] BUT!

Just as professional golf has been plagued by prominent rules embarrassments in the past 12 months, the issues stretch well beyond what you’ll see on TV. Enter Jacksonville University star David Wicks yesterday during the final round of the men’s D-1 Baton Rouge regional. Battling Northwestern for the fifth and final spot to advance to Nationals and compete for a national title on the final nine, Wicks inadvertently dropped his ball into a pond while waiting to make a formality of a 3-foot putt for par and finish the hole. The requisite and necessary recourse for this, of course, is getting half-naked and wading into a muddy Louisiana pond to find said ball.

Of course, you might be asking some questions here.

You’re right! It’s absolutely not a big deal! According to to Wicks’ own story, he knocked the ball out of his pocket as he was pulling his scorecard out. Happens! Totally not a big deal, and not at all something that affects the integrity of the golf tournament in any way.

But, wait! I have a USGA Rulebook! Per Rule 15(1), 16(1)(b), and related decisions in 15-2/1, a player can only replace a ball in the middle of a hole when it’s damaged beyond the point of playability. The specific rulebook decision in 15-2/1 ponders a similar situation where a ball is inadvertently dropped or tossed in a pond and lost. The text is very clear. You have to find the danged ball.

So what did that mean for Wicks? From the time the ball entered the water, it was considered lost. Under that definition, he had five minutes to find and retrieve the ball in the water before he’d have to take a two-stroke penalty. Perhaps in an individual tournament, he’d take the L and move on — but in a neck-and-neck team situation, you’re ditching the clothes and going ball-diving. He was unsuccessful and was forced to take the penalty, but the story gets better from there. Wicks played even-par golf to the finish, got the Dolphins into a playoff with Northwestern, and secured the first ever trip to Nationals for the school there.

For all the moral parading the game of golf does about integrity, the rules of golf provide little to no wiggle room. The rules are written to be overly penal and give players and playing competitors no discretion when it comes to honest mistakes that don’t truly affect the integrity of the championship. It would’ve been some major garbage had Jacksonville failed to advance because of a fumbled golf ball coming out of a pocket.

Yet, keep in mind: This isn’t a USGA event. This was an NCAA event, that full-well has all the opportunity to overrule these archaic policies. Rules committees and officials on-site at the championship have some of that latitude to make one-off decisions, though most of those folks often shy away from any decision that could be controversial. The USGA’s rulebook provides all the protection, a player’s legs getting chomped off by gator be damned.

The Rules of Golf are supposed to be simplified, and some of these issues greatly improved — but not until 2019. For a game that continues to alienate with its overwrought, stupid rules, those changes can’t come soon enough.