Etiquette - “The customary code of polite behaviour in society or among members of a particular profession or group.” There were certain sporting maxims when we grew up. Football is a gentleman's game played by thugs, and rugby is a thug’s game played by gentlemen. Cricket and golf were games for protaganists who played with a significant side order of honour.
Colin Montgomerie won the Champions Tour’s Invesco QQQ Championship last weekend, but the big story was one Billy Mayfair and the breaking of not one but two rules of golf. The story does not paint Mr Mayfair in a good light and the same must be said about the Champions Tour who seem to be trying to sweep the incidents under the carpet.
A leading Korean golf official has resigned after a new rules controversy. Here’s what occurred.
Following on from our recent rant concerning etiquette the writer took to the course this morning. It was a stableford competition (points system) a normally quicker format as a lost ball is not the end of the world and if you can’t score on a hole you pick up. It is those lovely medal events that often bring the course to a grinding halt with all competitors having to finish out every hole.
After six months of deliberations and consultation, the R&A and USGA have come up with the new rules governing amateur status and not unexpectedly, the announcement will produce plenty of debate. With a few strokes of the pen, a whole new class of elite amateurs is created who can receive unlimited sponsorship and winning a few quid in the club roll-up may cost you your amateur status!
There has been much talk about Eddie Pepperell’s Tin Cup moment at the Turkish Open at the weekend. For those of you who have not ready about it, European Tour joker Eddie had a minor meltdown at the par five 4th hole(his 12th). hitting four or five balls into the water. Pepperell ran out of balls, walked off the course and was disqualified.
The best-selling golf book in the world has had a redesign for the 2016 season and will be launched in the U.K. golf market.
The R&A and the USGA have announced the introduction of a new Local Rule that eliminates the penalty when a ball is accidentally moved on the putting green. And Dustin Johnson for one is delighted.
Trial by television was with us again at the Bay Hill Classic on Thursday. No Patrick Reed this time but rather the squeaky-clean Justin Rose. Rose had a tricky chip from the back of the 11th which he ran some 10 feet past the pin but did he move the ball at address?
Sometimes we look at a player and wonder what is going through their head. In what can only be considered a nightmare year for Matt Kuchar the American really doesn’t seem to know when to stop digging, quite literally in this case!
To say that Patrick Reed is not one of the most popular players on tour would be somewhat of an understatement. However, he has done little for his stock in trade with his blatant breaking of the rules at the Hero World Challenge. Some would say he is very lucky to get away with just a two-stroke penalty.
Despite no mortal being able to move it on their own the answer is the boulder. As Tiger Woods found out to his benefit at the 1999 Phoenix Open when a friendly rules official suggested it was a loose impediment.
