Golf Channel’s Blair O’Neal competed in the celebrity division of last week’s Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. She finished a respectable 6th in a field of 47 male golfers … while in her 6th month of pregnancy.
Several ex-professional athletes in the field grumbled that O’Neal was anchoring her putter in her “baby bump.” That would be a violation of USGA Rule 14-1b. One NFL Hall of Famer declared, “She made everything she looked at with that putter jammed in her stomach. Pissed me off. I almost clothes-lined the bitch.”
Golf Lampoon contacted a USGA rules official for comment on this issue and received this clarification via email:
“Rule 14-1b expressly prohibits pregnancy putter anchoring in the first trimester when the woman is not yet ‘showing.’ However, in the second and third trimesters — when the abdominal area has noticeably expanded — the woman — at the sole discretion of the Committee — may anchor her putter because, let’s face it, what choice does she have? What is she supposed to do … stand 3 feet from the ball? C’mon, people … have a little common sense!
“Frankly, the USGA is more concerned about golfers using artificial body mass devices to gain a distance advantage over the field. Being in a pregnant state is considered ‘natural’ under a Local Rule and most of us at the USGA are ok with that. Even if it does result in 5-7 yards of extra distance for the with-child competitor. Where we draw the line is the use of scuba diver weight belts. That’s why they were banned in 1975, as codified in Rule 59-12(g) — commonly known as the Cousteau Clause.”
Back to Ms. O’Neal: “This is just sour grapes because I beat almost all of these guys. They should just shut up and grow a pair.”
