The Rules of Golf (San Francisco version)

In 2005 the beautiful City outlawed smoking in public places but exempted golf courses.

Later that year the beautiful City concluded that the golf exception favored the “elites” who play the game and rescinded the exemption.

The beautiful City renovated the Harding Park Municipal Course and hopes to attract PGA tour events, like the American Express tournament that Harding Park hosted in 2005.

The chain-smoking, out-of-shape Argentine Angel Cabrera out-dueled the sculpted Tiger Woods to win the U.S. Open last Sunday.

Cabrera might have appeared nervous throughout his round -- he frequently puffed on a cigarette between shots, the way Arnold Palmer did in old film clips

Question: will the beautiful City fine or jail or ban PGA-tour golfers like Angel Cabrera and John Daly if they puff before they putt?

[Related Item: the city of Belmont does its best to mimic the nanny-statism of its beautiful big brother by the Bay.] © 2007 Stephen Yuen