See note at the bottom...if you can stay awake that long.
The movie ends with a putt that hangs on the edge of the hole, but doesn’t go in for 51 seconds (or so) after it came to rest. When it finally does fall, the resulting “birdie” nets $80,000 for Al Czervik and Ty Webb, but had Lou Loomis (the referee of the match) been up to snuff, Danny Noonan would have ended up working in a lumber yard and Judge Smails and Dr. Beeper would have pocketed the 80 large.
I would think this ignorance of the rules on the part of Lou would have gotten him fired although he got everyone to agree to “waive sanction against said referee or anything that would get me (him) fired” prior to the match. But here’s the text of the rule, straight from the Rules of Golf.
16-2. Ball Overhanging Hole
When any part of the ball overhangs the lip of the hole, the player is allowed enough time to reach the hole without unreasonable delay and an additional ten seconds to determine whether the ball is at rest. If by then the ball has not fallen into the hole, it is deemed to be at rest. If the ball subsequently falls into the hole, the player is deemed to have holed out with his last stroke and must add a penalty stroke to his score for the hole; otherwise, there is no penalty under this Rule.
And back then, ironically, the rules were that if you didn’t do something within ten seconds, it was too late anyway and you got two strokes for your indiscretion.
However, since the match was considered won by Ty and Al and the Judge and the good Doctor failed to “claim the hole” prior to leaving the final green, it’s too late anyway to change the result.
Note: At one point in my pathetically boring existence, I was convinced that this sort of information would make for interesting conversations with my fellow movie viewers. I'm pretty convinced that I was wrong about that, but I guess it was better than me playing the banjo.
