By Rick Anderson

For The Daily World

As genteel as the sport might be, golf officials and fans can be a bloodthirsty lot.

For years, golf administrators embraced the dumbest policy in professional sports by allowing television viewers to call or text in rules violations.

They also sanctioned a form of double jeopardy that would never pass muster within the legal system. If a rules violation wasn’t detected until following the completion of play, golfers were subject to potential disqualification for signing an incorrect scorecard — thus penalizing the players for sloppy officiating.

To their credit, administrators pulled the plug on the armchair officials and all but eliminated the double jeopardy penalty in separate rule changes within the past year.

Nevertheless, some associated with the sport still want to go for the jugular in the punishment of offenders.

Take, for example, the Phil Mickelson U.S. Open controversy.

Frustrated by a bad round and a ridiculous pin placement, Mickelson struck a moving ball as it was rolling off a green at Shinnecock Hills during the third round of the Open last Saturday.

He was dutifully penalized two strokes. That wasn’t enough for some commentators, who unsuccessfully lobbied for Mickelson to be disqualified.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit to being a quasi-Mickelson fan. I initially supported him partly because of his go-for-broke style but primarily because I was tired of friends telling me I shouldn’t root for him.

In their view, Mickelson was more disingenuous, self-absorbed and arrogant than his longtime rival Tiger Woods. I’ll buy the disingenuous part. But even prior to his well-publicized off-the-course difficulties in recent years, Tiger was easily a match for Phil in the other two categories.

That said, there are a lot of pros (Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, to name three) whom I like more than Mickelson. Both on and off the course, he makes a lot of questionable decisions and isn’t always forthcoming in his reasoning behind them.

True to form, Mickelson made a bad situation worse with his post-round comments Saturday.

Had he simply admitted to letting his frustration get the best of him and apologizing for his actions, all likely would have been forgiven. Certainly, the majority of amateur golfers would have identified with him.

Instead, Mickelson claimed that he was attempting to use the moving-ball rule to his advantage, trusting that he could have posted a lower score by preventing the ball from rolling off the green.

If that was his strategy, it failed. Had he left the ball unattended, Mickelson probably would have registered an eight on the hole. Including the penalty, he wound up with a 10.

Mickelson’s wife Amy probably came closer to the truth when she said the incident reflected a good man having a bad moment.

The fact remains that Mickelson committed a rules violation that called for a two-stroke penalty. That’s the penalty he received.

Ironically, Woods was involved in a somewhat similar controversy at the 2013 Masters.

After hitting a shot into a water hazard during the second round, Woods took what was later adjudged to be an improper drop. Since the violation wasn’t discovered (thanks to the intervention of one of those helpful TV viewers) until after the round, Tiger could have been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

Tourney officials, however, assessed a two-stroke penalty and allowed Woods to continue in the tournament. Again, I thought it was the right call but many critics disagreed.

The Mickelson case is the latest example of observers (including many in the media) going over the top in demanding the harshest possible sanctions for relatively minor infractions.

I’m far from a fan of the NFL’s New England Patriots, but there’s no way that quarterback Tom Brady’s alleged role in deflating footballs during a playoff game the Patriots won handily a few years ago merited a four-game suspension. A two-game suspension would have been more appropriate.

In arguing for Mickelson’s disqualification, one online commentator wrote that the cover-up was worse than the offense.

Please. This was a golf tournament, not Watergate.

Phil Mickelson received a two-stroke penalty and took an enduring hit to his reputation for his actions Saturday. All things considered, the punishment fit the crime.