Money often costs too much.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

We all knew that when 16-year-old Michelle Wie turned pro she would be under the gun and under intense scrutiny by the media.

Such scrutiny led largely to her disqualification in the LPGA Samsung World Championship. Wie broke a rule of golf that would have gone unnoticed had she not been so closely watched.

Any other golfer taking a drop from an unplayable lie as Wie did at the seventh hole in Saturday's third round would have escaped notice. Well, maybe except for Annika Sorenstam.

Sports Illustrated's Michael Bamberger blew the whistle on what perhaps has become the most publicized illegal drop in women's golf.

Bamberger's right. But by reporting it more than 24 hours and 25 holes later, it appears that integrity got in the way of a good story.

That's the only bone I have to pick with him — his timing, whatever his rationale afterward.

I can empathize because I'm a fellow whistle-blower when it comes to golf rules. Twice, in fact.

The first happened several years ago in the Maui Open when I was playing in B flight only because there was no C or D flights for guys with my handicap index. I was playing with Riley Wallace, University of Hawai'i men's basketball coach.

We were waiting when a player in the foursome ahead hit a third tee-shot after his first drives went into the kiawe trees in a hazard.

Curious to see what he eventually took on the hole — he was running away in B flight — I checked the scoreboard after the round. He had a bogey-5.

"No way," I told Wallace.

"I wouldn't say anything if I were you," said Wallace, worried about my life and limb. "Besides, the guy's a motorcycle cop. I hate to see you get a speeding ticket."

Still, I told the official scorer, the late David Kim, to question the golfer what happened at the hole. The offender claimed he found his first ball and played it, overlooking the fact that it was now regarded as an abandoned ball with his subsequent drives.

He got disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard,

The second instance came when I was covering the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational. One of the players took a relief from the cart path and liked her lie so much after the free drop that she hit her next shot with her right heel still on the cart path.

A no-no. It's a two-stroke penalty for improving your lie.

In her case, she was informed of the breach by the rules official, Chuck Larson, in time to add two strokes to her score at the 18th hole. She wasn't a happy camper, but she wasn't DQ'd.

Rules are rules. And no other sport has so many rules as golf.

Wie wasn't the only golfer DQ'd on Sunday. Kevin Stadler was disqualified in the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas when he discovered that one of his wedges had a bent shaft, a violation under Rule 4-1 (a) regarding club conformity. Never mind that he did not use or could even use the club.

For Wie, it wasn't the money, but an unfortunate embarrassment in her pro debut, where she would have won $53,126 for finishing in fourth place.

But the DQ proved more costly for Stadler, who was tied for fifth going into the final round. At 167th place on the money list going into the event, Stadler could have used the $160,000 or so he might have earned to make the top 125 and keep his playing card for next year.

Hawai'i's Dean Wilson also was also disqualified earlier this year in the Buick Invitational in San Diego for not signing his scorecard. He had just finished a rain-delayed second round and was hurrying to get to the first tee for the next round.

Wilson had been tied for 16th and who knows how much he could have earned.

"I still had two rounds to go, so I can't say," Wilson said. "Obviously, I could have picked up some money, but who knows how much."

Fortunately for Wilson, he's currently 102nd on the money list at $720,431 with three tournaments to go. "I think I'm safe," said Wilson, adding that he, too, has learned his lesson from his first disqualification as a pro.

There's no justice in golf. Just the rules.

The good thing is that Michelle Wie, who has been anything but routine in whatever she does, is a fast learner.