What the hell happened with Catrina at the Memorial?

[SD86]

I've been a marshal at LPGA tournaments in the past. We had a lady teeing off, then she pulled back and asked one of the other marshals to stop moving, that the change in his pocket was distracting her. After they all teed off, he pulled his pockets out to show that he had no change or keys at all. At the same time, the caddies would ask us to not stand behind the players when they were about to hit the ball, and to not move while they were swinging. I also got 'talked to' by a caddie who said they could hear people on our tee talking from the green of the prior hole. I told him I'd let everyone know to be more aware of that, and we had no more problems.

That cameraman was nothing short of a jerk in not moving to one side. Anyone with integrity would fire that cameraman, but I'm not expecting that of Steve Dodge. Remember that Dodge and Paige Pierce got into it last year when she was lining up to make the winning putt. Dodge, and now obviously his non-Jomez, non-CCDG camera crew, don't seem to give a rip about decorum nor the female players.

 

[onemilemore]

Dodge, and now obviously his non-Jomez, non-CCDG camera crew, don't seem to give a rip about decorum nor the female players.

The decorum point I'll grant you. But to say Dodge doesn't give a rip about women's players completely overlooks the fact that they have made a ton of effort to feature the FPO division on their media coverage.

 

[mizunodave]

Steve Dodge has been a major proponent to FPO coverage. Whatever other fair criticisms you may have, anyone who thinks he doesn't care about FPO is just flat out uninformed.

 

[SD86]

The decorum point I'll grant you. But to say Dodge doesn't give a rip about women's players completely overlooks the fact that they have made a ton of effort to feature the FPO division on their media coverage.

You're right about that.

He still should fire that cameraman.

 

[mostlynorwegian]

I think people get way too caught up in having everything perfectly still and quiet when they putt. I will concede that if a loud gunshot went off when I was about to throw, or a crazy person was behind the basket intentionally trying to mess me up, I would probably be distracted. But if someone is talking at a normal level within earshot or someone is walking 200 feet behind the basket, get over it. If a camera man is in your line of sight but standing still filming, it shouldn't be a problem. You're a professional, you should be able to hone in on the basket and your putting routine and put it in.

I respect professionals desire to be able to concentrate and to not have some puto ruin it for them, or their fans.

 

[Hampstead]

Your deep insight and judgement aside. I am un-curmudgeony enough to understand that I will not always get the optimal work environment. I get that she is trying to make a living, but I would gladly change positions with her and take on her issues....kind of defines the idea of "first world problems". I think most of us would agree, she has a more enjoyable job than us. She is making a living, predominately doing what is a passion for most here.

I also understand that she gets it. Her post was pretty insightful, to the degree she accepts responsibility for her own distractions.

LOL. You got me. My response was nowhere near as deep and insightful as "First world problems."

 

[JTacoma03]

Eh, one thing to consider here is that camera operators at our level aren't stationed in an area. I get the "suck it up and putt" argument if we were doing PGA-style broadcasts where the cameras are fixed pre-event, but that's not our reality.

The problem is, there were only a handful of cameras, so they have to constantly move. I didn't see this supposed scenario play out personally, but the respectful thing to do as a cam op is move and re-frame. It actually happens slightly more often during events than most people realize, there's just usually no drama. The player asks politely, the cam op obliges, both parties reset and everybody is OK.

Everybody who has operated in this sport has been asked to move at least once. It's not a big deal, and if both people involved are courteous to each other it's water under the bridge within the next 30 sec.

That said, if the operator was on my crew we'd have a discussion after the round if he/she had refused to move after a reasonable request by the player (note the operative word).

 

[davetherocketguy]

Wow is it really that hard to just move out of the way?

What a tool.

 

[XC_Eddy]

Wow is it really that hard to just move out of the way?

What a tool.

Yeah it's hard to move! He had to work really hard to get a weirdly zoomed in shot that makes it hard to tell how far away the putting player is from the basket.

 

[Steve West]

Can anyone provide a definition of 802.03 A 4 "The playing area is clear and free of distractions."...

Yes. Her group can.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Must be some film school guys who fell in love with long lensing...

 

[teemkey]

Well, I hope she slapped him with a courtesy violation! Or a kix to his lucky charms. Something.

 

[slowplastic]

I would way rather have 20+ people group talking in the background when I concentrate to put. I would way rather have a busy road behind the basket with constant traffic while trying to focus on a drive or putt than dead silence and one car coming up and passing by.

Of course I'd rather not be bothered by any of it and I really try to just find my focus and putt if someone is talking if I'm playing in groups. But it's WAY more distracting I think when it's a single thing that you can't tune out rather than just so much stuff that it's white noise.

 

[BrotherDave]

By the way, bet that guy moves for, say Drew Gibson.

Why?

Yeah it's hard to move! He had to work really hard to get a weirdly zoomed in shot that makes it hard to tell how far away the putting player is from the basket.

This is maybe the worst part. That guy moving out of Catrina's way probably would've improved the shot. Those people were terrible at filming putts. :doh:

 

[gammaxgoblin]

She was not a factor in deciding who won the tournament. One shot or even two for her did not factor in her winning the tournament. She was 100% correct in her self assessment in that she needs to be able to handle these types of situations better. Her reaction to these events is the issue, not the events. The events are regrettable, yes. For as long as she has played I would tend to think that she would have developed a better ability to process these types of distractions and not be so unnerved by them to the extent it seems she was.

 

[Hyzflip10]

Yes. Her group can.

So you are saying that since Paige Pierce agreed with her and asked the camera man to move, she would have been within her rights to wait until the distraction was out of the way?

 

[dorseymatt]

Why?

Because Drew Gibson is a male, with muscles, and I bet that dude doesn't refuse to move when he asks, as opposed to Catrina and Paige. Basically I'm just jumping to huge conclusions, and I might be wrong, but here we are.

 

[Jkosk]

She was not a factor in deciding who won the tournament. One shot or even two for her did not factor in her winning the tournament. She was 100% correct in her self assessment in that she needs to be able to handle these types of situations better. Her reaction to these events is the issue, not the events. The events are regrettable, yes. For as long as she has played I would tend to think that she would have developed a better ability to process these types of distractions and not be so unnerved by them to the extent it seems she was.

Should she have handled it better? Perhaps. She obviously wishes she had. But to be honest, she probably has never had someone flat our refuse to remove themselves from her line of sight, nor should she have had to experience it here.

And this specific event may have only directly influenced that one shot, but as we all know 1 frustrating stroke can snowball into many. It's just an unfortunate situation all around.

It's just baffling to me that the event's media team was this disrespectful and stubborn towards the athletes... The very people whom they were hired to film...

 

[Jolt]

It feels like there were more than one thing that happened to her

 

[DiscJunkie]

Much speculation here.
We have a very vague, self-focused post on facebook acknowledging that the she should have handled the distractions better.
And then we take something that happened to her, as told by someone else, and blow it all out of proportion.
A little restraint would serve us well.
But, hey, this is DGCR. It's what we do.