Quotes of the week: Rules take center stage, again

“It’s very clear there is a certain level of discomfort with some Tour players, certainly not all, and we are working to address that with certain rules. We know we have more work to do. With the amount of change this was, we thought there would need to be clarification, and there still will be. We are only eight weeks into this. Things are going to continue to happen. We are going to have to continue to talk about it and engage with players. That’s the key, and we are going to make a concerted effort to do that, and to continue to do that throughout the season.” – John Bodenhamer, USGA’s senior managing director of championships

“I more so say things in hopes that the USGA starts communicating with the current players to better the game and the sport. The rules are rules, no getting past that. Just hoping going forward, communication is had and ALL GOLFERS benefit from any changes.” – Justin Thomas on Twitter

“Justin, we need to talk. You’ve cancelled every meeting we’ve planned with you, but we are reaching out again. We were at the first 5 events, and tournaments last year, and your tour has had a seat at the table for 7 years. We’d love nothing more than to give you a seat. Call us.” – USGA PR Twitter handle, responding to Justin Thomas’ tweets criticizing the new rules

“We all want to grow the game, and you’re not going to grow the game making it look funny, or making guys do unathletic things. You want the sport to look cool. Ultimately, you want to bring more of the younger generation in. When you have people making fun of it, that doesn’t do the game justice. We want people to watch, and we want to bring people into the sport who aren’t necessarily already playing golf. If they see something that may not look cool, that doesn’t help.” – Rickie Fowler, after making fun of the new knee-height drop rule at Honda

“My feeling was either allow them [as they were], or get rid of them. The USGA guy sat there and told us he wanted us to putt with our feet and eyes. I questioned why we had greens books at all. This is another incident that doesn’t look very good for them.” – Ryan Palmer, after Alex Cejka was DQ’d for using an illegal green-reading book

“I said, ‘Do you think that’s really fair?’ He said, ‘Yeah, you are behind.’ I said `No, we are not. We are not holding up anyone. The guys behind us aren’t even on the 17th tee. And the guys in front of us are finished.’ I get it if we have nine holes to go, that maybe we are a hole behind, but the fact is the group in front of us finished 14 minutes behind the group in front of them. The group in front of them finished 16 minutes behind that group. So, we were exactly in slot for what was going down the last few holes.” – Charl Schwartzel, explaining his spat with a rules official

“I feel terrible. It’s a caddie’s worst nightmare.” – Mark Carens, caddie for Adam Schenk, who was penalized for violating the new caddie-alignment rule