On a day where excitement is starting to build for this week’s Masters, much of the conversation at Augusta National was still focused on the Lexi Thompson rules debacle from the final round of the ANA Inspiration 24 hours earlier.

A lot of the criticism, quite rightly, has been aimed at how officials handled the situation and how a TV viewer could ultimately cost Thompson a second major championship.

LPGA officials received an email from a TV viewer after the final round had begun, notifying them that Thompson had slightly misplaced a marked ball on the 17th hole during Saturday’s third round.

Officials reviewed the incident but Thompson was not notified until she had putted out on the 12th hole in the final round.

A shocked Thompson’s reaction on hearing of the four-stroke penalty was: “Is this a joke? Oh, my God.”

Thompson then muttered. “A four-stroke penalty, that’s just ridiculous.”

She stood on the 13th tee trying to compose herself and she hit her drive in tears.

The LPGA later issued a statement over the incident.

“On Sunday afternoon, the LPGA received an email from a television viewer, saying that Lexi Thompson did not properly replace her ball before putting out on the 17th hole during Saturday’s third round of the ANA Inspiration. The claim was quickly investigated by LPGA Rules officials.

“After a full review, it was determined that Thompson breached Rule 20-7c (Playing From Wrong Place), and received a two-stroke penalty under Rule 16-1b. She incurred an additional two-stroke penalty under Rule 6-6d for returning an incorrect scorecard in round three. She was immediately notified of the breach by LPGA Rules Committee in between holes 12 and 13 of the final round.”

Thompson joins a growing list of players in recent times that have been embroiled in rulings controversies at major championships. All, unfortunately, have been handled badly by officials.

At the 2013 Masters, Tiger Woods was assessed a two-stroke penalty for hitting from the wrong spot after taking a drop and a former PGA Tournament director sent a text to contacts on the Masters Committee.

Woods was three shots from the lead at the time, was penalised the following morning after a meeting with the Masters Committee.

Earlier the same year, Stacy Lewis was slugged with a two-stroke penalty when a TV viewer called the LPGA to say they had seen her caddie testing the surface of a bunker in the third round.

The argument then, as it is now in the light of Thompson’s incident, is the intense scrutiny and TV coverage of leading players leaves them exposed to even the slightest misdemeanor being pounced upon by a TV viewer watching a slowed down replay.

While some will say a rules breach is a rule breach, but if Thompson was 10 shots off the lead when she accidentally incorrectly marked her ball, we would not be talking about it today because it would not have been televised.

In addition, if Thompson made the mistake in the final round and the TV viewer notified the LPGA any time after the trophy presentation, there’s no way they’re going to hand the silverware back.

I think we've seen some stuff in the past year that is not making the game look very good at all – Rickie Fowler

Yes the Rules of Golf were correctly applied, and Thompson was quite rightly penalised two shots for playing from an incorrect spot. But once she signed her card for the third round that should have been it. Allowing a TV viewer to affect the outcome a day later was unfair and unjust.

Dozens of players took to social media to voice their concerns with the way the incident was handled.

Rickie Fowler fronted the media at Augusta Monday and said he thought it was a “bad look for the game”.

“Seeing the reaction from everyone and kind of how it was handled … I think we've seen some stuff in the past year that is not making the game look very good at all,” said Fowler in reference to rules controversies involving Dustin Johnson and Anna Nordqvist where officials confronted players during their final round.

“There's no other sport where people can call or e‑mail in or contact officials regarding an issue.

“I mean, there's plenty of circumstances in plenty of other sports where a call could go a completely different way, and these decisions are left up to officials. There's not people sitting at home dictating this or, you know, in this case, having a lot of effect on the outcome of a major. It's not just another tournament.

“So it was really unfortunate to see kind of how it was handled. In my eyes, coming 24 hours after the fact, to me, you know, things should be handled the day of. I mean, you tee off – once you sign your scorecard, that's kind of it.

“When you look at if something were to come up Monday after the tournament, the tournament's done. So where do things close off? If something happened Thursday in the tournament, something were to come up on Sunday, then you go back and enforce a penalty there, there shouldn't be anyone outside of the officials being able to make this call.

“You look at someone like Tiger, who has spent his career obviously every shot, every movement has been on camera, and yeah, if we go back and look at video of, you know, all kinds of players or things through the years, you probably can find rules infractions.

“Now, were these people trying to do that?  I would be willing to bet no.”

Fowler was forthright in calling for the practice of tournament organisers taking calls from the public and implementing retrospective penalities.

“There's no question it should be ended,” he said. “I don't think you could find one player that would say otherwise.

“Now if there's an official always monitoring any video or anyone on camera, that's fine, and I have no problem with that, if that's an official. You look at other sports, they go to someone in the video booth and there's an official in there that can look over stuff, great.

“There shouldn't be any outside contact, whether it's e‑mail or phone calls whatsoever.”

Until the practice is stopped, these rules controversies will continue to dog the showpieces of our game, which is a scenario that negates all the hard work to try and grow the game.