What is an acceptable gimme in matchplay golf?

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There are many ways to look like a clown while in the middle of a hot game but putting your putter down after knocking in a two-foot putt is pretty high on the list.

You may drink a beer on the 1st tee, rip off your top, run naked around the green but the ridiculous injustice of not being awarded a putt is obvious.

Bryson DeChambeau made it before the 1st hole in his fourball match with Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Justin Thomas has been guilty of it in the past and Tom Kim was a pantomime villain this year when he badmouthed Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele’s lack of ‘picking up’ comments.

The Americans were two up on the par-3 7th when Si Woo Kim, who was about to make a spectacular layup on the front hole, hit it to within a few feet. Short putts were missed on these four days and Kim hit it.

Judging by the crowd’s reaction, it’s clear that he did something when he left the pit before returning to the side of the pit to lie down before walking away shaking his head.

Tom Kim measures the putt pic.twitter.com/FmlqafDtaf

– GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) September 28, 2024

Two days earlier Kim, along with then-teammate Sungjae Im, had gone 60 yards to the 9th after holing a birdie putt while Scottie Scheffler holed his birdie.

This, to be honest, is even more lame but it rarely happens and has not been repeated, so we can put this down to poor judgment.

Lying down the putter charade is common and not a good look. Gimmes are there to speed up play which, if nobody cares about this stuff in the Presidents Cup, makes them part of the pantomime.

Don’t give them and you might get a few boos, give them and the commentators will play about some kind of amazing mind games where you give a couple early and take them out late in the game.

There is a great story of Sergio Garcia from his amateur days where he allowed a 12 foot putt on his putt for par and then knocked in his birdie putt from within that distance.

If you want to feel mentally challenged this can be a good start but it’s never been so much fun in a team match event.

Cantlay and Schauffle would win the match on the 18th after Cantlay put another in the dark. He kept his head down, this time wearing a cap, continued the game and closed things out in style.

Whether you believe in karma or not the team that just played golf the right way came out winners.

If you’re in the club room and you’re watching a clip of one of your opponents complaining about not being awarded a putt, how much do you want to put him down the next day?

We all find that part of Tom Kim’s charm to be his strength but, for most of the past week, it’s been working in the wrong direction.

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