Michelle Wie could feel Lexi Thompson’s pain. And when she was the victim of a snitch — oh, wait, sorry … a protector of the integrity of the game of golf — it was even worse.

Thompson was penalized four strokes that cost her the championship at the LPGA’s first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration. Two were for marking her ball incorrectly on the 17th hole on Saturday and two were for signing an incorrect scorecard after the round.

Thompson was leading the tournament by two shots before the penalty was assessed after the 12th hole of Sunday’s final round. To her credit, she rallied from the resulting two strokes back to tie So Yeon Ryu after 18, forcing a playoff that Ryu won.

In Wie’s case, it was 12 years ago at the Samsung World Championship. The rules were different then, and the 15-year-old playing in her pro debut was disqualified for signing a scorecard that turned out to be wrong because of a bad drop.

“That would’ve been a DQ a year ago,” said Wie, when asked about Thompson’s penalty. “It’s still an unfortunate situation.”

Wie spoke after a press conference Tuesday in advance of the LPGA’s Lotte Championship at Ko Olina. When asked about it during the preceding mass gathering of reporters, Wie, Brooke Henderson, Hyo Joo Kim, Inbee Park, In Gee Chun and defending champion Minjee Lee all declined to comment. They had nothing to say twice, when asked by representatives of two different media outlets.

But Wie addressed it a few minutes later after a quick photo shoot with the other five stars — most of whom are still in the “happy to be here” phases of their careers. (As for Park, it’s “happy to be back” for the Hall of Famer after missing much of last year with a thumb injury.)

Wie even chuckled a bit when reminded of her misfortune from more than a decade ago.

“I just want to know how you do that,” she said. “What number do you call, 1-800-something?”

The wounds are still raw for Thompson. She wasn’t scheduled to play here this year anyway, and it might be good for her to have a two-week break after enduring a major victory snatched away in that fashion.

Wie back in 2005 and Thompson two weeks ago were both victims of self-appointed golf rules police. In Wie’s case it was a reporter, Michael Bamberger. For Thompson, it was someone watching on TV who sent an email to the LPGA the next day.

Wie shot an 8-under-par 280 at Bighorn, and would have finished in fourth place in the 20-woman field of elite LPGA players. Thompson, a 22-year-old former teen phenom like Wie, likely would’ve won her eighth LPGA event and second major.

In both cases, the infractions were not reported to officials promptly. If they were, signing incorrect scorecards and the penalties that entailed could have been avoided.

“People do see things and I wish they would speak up more quickly because then the additional two-point penalty, she wouldn’t have (incurred) that if we could have gotten this during her round (Saturday),” said Dan Maselli, manager of rules and competition for the LPGA.

The policy of see something, say something, is often good when we’re talking about preventing criminal activity in the real world. But to affect the outcome of a golf tournament?

Golf is supposed to be a game of honor. Observers who pretend to make a stand for that by waiting to report a violation until it can do the most harm to a player are just mean-spirited and passive-aggressive.

Of course professional players should be held accountable to the rules. But these mistakes nearly always seem more like a minor lack of attention to detail than something dishonoring the competition and the game.

“It’s frustrating,” LPGA Tour commissioner Mike Whan said recently on Sirius XM PGA Tour radio. “It’s embarrassing. It’s one of those situations where the penalty does not match the crime.”

It’s also not fair to prominent players whose shots are televised more often than others, or to those who, for whatever reasons, are more likely to be turned in by fans or other observers who dislike them.

Maybe pro golf tournaments need more on-course rules officials to enforce rules, promptly. And that’s who they should be: actual appointed experts, not reporters or TV viewers trying to wear their hats.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Click here to read his blog.